Europa League: Chelsea face Sparta Prague at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea duo Frank Lampard and Branislav Ivanovic will be rested for Thursday's Europa League last-32 second leg against Sparta Prague. The Blues have a 1-0 lead from last week's first leg in the Czech Republic and interim manager Rafael Benitez has confirmed the pair will be left out with Sunday's trip to Manchester City in mind. Striker Demba Ba is cup-tied after previously featuring for Newcastle and midfielder Oriol Romeu is out with a long-standing knee injury. Former Chelsea midfielder Jiri Jarosik again misses out for Sparta through injury and fellow midfielder Josef Husbauer is out due to illness. With a lack of options in central midfield, manager Vitezslav Lavicka may switch to a 4-4-2 formation, with Leony Kweuke and David Lafata in attack. The only previous meeting between the two clubs at Stamford Bridge finished 0-0 in 2003 in the UEFA Champions League group phase, with Chelsea having earlier won 1-0 in Prague.