Chelsea star risks suspension in Pafos clash to give Liam Rosenior major Napoli headache

Chelsea are in Champions League action this evening against Pafos at Stamford Bridge with one Blues player very close to a one-match suspension in the competition

Chelsea welcome Pafos to Stamford Bridge this evening in the Blues' penultimate Champions League league phase fixture. It is all to play for from Chelsea's perspective, with six points from their final two matches the aim for Liam Rosenior as he looks to secure automatic qualification via the top eight.

The focus for Rosenior is one game at a time, and that starts tonight against Pafos. The Blues go into the European fixture as enormous favourites against the Cypriot team, though Rosenior guarded against complacency during his pre-match press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

"Pafos is not an easy game," insisted Rosenior. "They're still in a position where they can qualify. Analysing them, they have strength in terms of the way Albert [Celades] has put the team together that we have to be aware of.

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"But we need to go out and perform really, really well and not think too much about how important it is to miss out games [if they were to avoid going down the play-off route]. The most important thing is qualifying."

While the attention is on tonight's game, there is a really tricky trip to Naples on the horizon. After Chelsea take on Crystal Palace at the weekend, it is back to Champions League action a few days later with the Blues taking on Napoli, managed by former boss Antonio Conte.

Going to the Diego Armando Mardona Stadium is never an easy task but given both teams are set to have it all to play for next Wednesday, the atmosphere will be a spectacle to behold. Chelsea will be hoping to have as many of their key players available to them for their trip to Italy, but the Blues are at risk of one star missing the match through suspension.

Andrey Santos has picked up two yellow cards in the Champions League so far this season and a third caution, as per UEFA rules, will see him serve a one-match ban. UEFA rules state: "As from the first match in the league phase, players and team officials are suspended for the next competition match after three cautions, that did not result in a red card, as well as after any subsequent odd-numbered caution [fifth, seventh, ninth, etc.]."

Santos is the only Chelsea player on two yellow cards at the moment. Joao Pedro was sent off for two cautions in the win over Benfica earlier in the campaign, but as that resulted in a red card, it does not carry over.