Chelsea lost their first match with Thomas Tuchel in charge when they suffered a 5-2 defeat against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday at Stamford Bridge.

 

The result comes at an unwelcome time for the Blues as they are slated to face Porto in the first leg of their quarter-final tie in the Champions League on Wednesday.

 

 

The Portuguese champions will come into the game against Chelsea after knocking out Juventus whilst playing with ten-men in the second leg of their round of 16 tie in the Champions League, where they scored a late goal in extra-time to send themselves through on away goals.

 

Nevin explained that Porto are not a side to be overlooked as they were able to defend an aggregate advantage against the Italian champions with ten men, while Chelsea completely crumbled against West Brom at the weekend when they found themselves with a man fewer.

 

 

The Chelsea legend insisted that Porto, despite not being one of Europe’s greatest achievers such as Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, are likely to still cause problems for the Blues especially after seeing their defence capitulate against West Brom and let in five goals at the weekend.

 

“Porto in the Champions League were always going to be a real test of character for us”, Nevin wrote in his column on Chelsea’s official site.

 

 

“Unfortunately they have now been buoyed by the Baggies bagging a bundle at the Bridge.

 

“From the north-west of Portugal, our defence must have looked impregnable before the weekend, but they will not feel that way now.

 

“To underline their credentials, they will remind us that although we crumbled when losing a man against West Brom, when they lost a player recently against Juventus they didn’t.

 

“With an hour of football still to play, they didn’t capitulate and eventually scored in the 115th minute to send themselves through on the away-goals rule.

 

“This is going to be a tough one even if they are not one of Europe’s historical biggest hitters such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Barcelona.”

 

Tuchel’s Chelsea side will look to bounce back from the defeat against West Brom when both teams travel to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium in Seville for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.