Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed he will be making several changes to his starting line-up against Porto on Wednesday night, with Deco and Michael Ballack welcomed back into the side.

The midfield pair will be joined by Branislav Ivanovic, Ricardo Carvalho and Yury Zhirkov in defence, while Didier Drogba is expected to be on the bench alongside Michael Essien, who has a slight knee problem.

'I don't think he will start because he has a little problem on his knee and I prefer to keep him on the bench. He is not a problem for Sunday, against Arsenal he will play,' Ancelotti said of the Ghanaian midfielder.

'We are in Portugal now, and I want to say that Carvalho and Deco will play tomorrow. I want to change something, some players, and the players that did not play against Wolves will play, Ivanovic, Carvalho, Deco, Ballack,' he explained. 'I think that Zhirkov can play tomorrow at left-back.

'I don't know for Drogba, maybe he will start on the bench. He is well but I prefer to keep him on the bench.'

So, there will be much variation from the 11 that defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers so convincingly at the weekend, but the one thing that never changes is the captain, and John Terry will make his 300th appearance as Chelsea skipper in the Estadio do Dragao.

'I am happy because John Terry is a very good captain, not only for his technical qualities but also the "professionality" and I hope that he will be the captain for a long time,' Ancelotti said.

The occasion comes in a game both player and manager wants to win, in order to wrap up first place in Champions League Group D.

'Tomorrow is an important match not only for first place, but also tomorrow we will play against a strong team. Porto is a strong team in the Champions League and did well at Stamford Bridge. It is a very good test because we want to put in the pitch our personality - to go forward we have to have personality and quality - it is not easy in this stadium.'

We have of course been here before, twice, but are yet to sample victory, having drawn 1-1 three seasons ago in the first knockout round, and losing 2-1 in a meaningless final group game back in 2004/05, by which time both sides had already qualified for the later stages.

The situation this time around is the same, with both having booked a safe passage through, yet there remains plenty to play for here in northern Portugal.

You can follow the match live here on the Chelsea website, with the club's official Matchday Centre.