Chelsea v. Maribor Preview  (Sky Sports)

Chelsea return to Champions League action on Tuesday at home to Maribor, a side Jose Mourinho has labelled "difficult".

The Slovenians have drawn with Sporting Lisbon and Schalke in their opening two Group G matches - Chelsea won 1-0 in Portugal last time out, having opened with a 1-1 home draw against the Germans - and Blues boss Mourinho is not underestimating a team which reached the group stages at Celtic's expense.

He said at Monday's pre-match press conference: "We have studied them and I'm happy because my players now have the feeling that they are a difficult opponent."

With Diego Costa (hamstring) ruled out, the major selection question for Mourinho is whether Didier Drogba or Loic Remy will start up front.

Drogba shook off an ankle problem to come off the bench in Saturday's 2-1 Premier League win at Crystal Palace and could feature, although not for 90 minutes.

Mourinho recently spoke of his team being built with Costa as the attacking focal point and refused to discuss adjustments with a different striker in place.

"You speak about Diego, I don't speak about Diego," said Mourinho. "I say to my players: 'I don't want to speak about injured players'.

"When somebody is injured, I always look at it as an opportunity for another player. When he's not here, he's not here."

Maribor boss Ante Simundza hopes to expose the few flaws in the Stamford Bridge hosts to record a surprise win.

"Our mentality is to win, to play offensively," Simundza said. "We always try to go for a win, but we will certainly not be pushing very, very hard from the beginning without thinking in this match.

"Chelsea is a very competitive team in every minute, in every second of the game.

"It will be very tough to find some flaws. We will do our best to find it and try to use it.

"Chelsea are the favourites not only for our group but also for the Champions League.

"Every team has strengths and weaknesses and Chelsea is no exception, but Chelsea have more strengths than weaknesses.

"We will try to find these weaknesses to achieve a positive result."

Maribor must shake off a first loss in nine games to prevail at Stamford Bridge. Two own goals from Aleksander Rajcevic condemned Maribor to a 2-1 defeat to Celje.

Chelsea may be without Costa, but Simundza does not expect the Blues to be weakened by the Spaniard's absence.

"Diego Costa is injured, but Diego Costa cannot play alone," Simundza added.

"Who will play, I don't know, but I'm sure it will be a tough player."

Defender Marko Suler added: "I personally was hoping that he played, because I like the challenge. Somebody else will come, maybe equally as good. It won't help us at all."

Maribor reached the group stages at Celtic's expense, but Chelsea are an entirely different proposition.

"It's the hardest opponent so far," Suler added. "I wouldn't compare the game with Celtic. I think it's a different level. We have to do our best to compete with a team like Chelsea.

"We know who the favourite is. It would be ridiculous to think the opposite. We'll try to make it as hard as possible and surprise if we can."

Team news

Ramires and Andre Schurrle trained with Chelsea on the eve of the match, but are again expected to be absent on Tuesday, along with Diego Costa.

Brazil midfielder Ramires (groin) and World Cup-winning Germany forward Schurrle (illness) missed Saturday's win at Crystal Palace.

Costa, scorer of nine goals in seven Premier League games for the leaders, was also missing at Selhurst Park after persistent hamstring problems this season.

Costa was again missing for the first 15 minutes of Monday's training session, which was open to the media. Other than that trio, Jose Mourinho has a full squad at his disposal.