Champions League: 'Underdogs' Chelsea prepare for clash of the big spenders

Chelsea face one of their biggest games of the season tonight, with their tie against fellow big-spenders Paris Saint-Germain hanging in the balance after February's first leg.

Guus Hiddink's Blues trail the French side 2-1 after Edinson Cavani's late goal in Paris, but John Obi Mikel's strike in the first leg at the Parc des Princes means a 1-0 win is all it would take to put them through. For that reason, as well as the obvious danger posed by the likes of Angel di Maria and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, expect Chelsea to keep things tight and unadventurous.

The battle between the two sides has already begun on social media, with PSG's Twitter feed appearing to brand Chelsea's Diego Costa a "fraud" in a fairly transparent attempt at winding up the notoriously fiery striker.

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Laurent Blanc, the PSG manager, was more diplomatic than his club's media outlets, saying in a press conference: "There are two facets to Diego Costa: the player and the man.

"The player I like very much, a centre-forward who can score a lot of goals. We also know the man, a man who likes contact, duels, challenges, even provocation at times. That's part of his game. I’ll tell my players not to respond to that."

Costa remains a slight doubt for the game after missing the weekend's 1-1 draw with Stoke City, but Hiddink revealed on Tuesday that the player had returned to training with a view to leading the line at Stamford Bridge.

While the Blues have been boosted by the news, they will be without defensive general John Terry once again as he recovers from a hamstring injury. Branislav Ivanovic and Gary Cahill are the likely centre-back pairing.

PSG have a couple of injury worries of their own in midfield, with Blaise Matuidi and Marco Verratti both facing late fitness tests to determine their availability. With or without the pair, though, the Ligue 1 side remain favourites going into the match - a fact which didn't escape the notice of Hiddink.

"We are underdogs," he noted, talking to the club's website."You see the PSG team – we also have quality, but they can rest five, six, seven players [at the weekend]. We will be a very tough underdog."