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Schalke have won both games so far, while Chelsea recovered from their opening defeat with a resounding victory on matchday two to get their Group E hopes back on track. Schalke will bid to extend their winning start in Group E to three games when they take on Chelsea, with things looking brighter for the 2012 UEFA Champions League winners after victory at Steaua Bucureşti on matchday two.

Steaua Bucureşti will be hoping for their first points in this season’s UEFA Champions League when they take on Basel, who are facing Romanian opponents for the fourth successive season.

What to expect from the Matches

Schalke followed their 3-0 home victory over Steaua on the opening night with a 1-0 win at Basel at the same time as Chelsea were winning 4-0 in Romania. José Mourinho’s team therefore have three points, having lost 2-1 at home to Basel on matchday one. These teams last met in the 2007/08 group stage, with the game in Germany ending scoreless; Chelsea were 2-0 victors at Stamford Bridge with goals from Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba.

Before that draw Schalke had won all three home fixtures against English opponents, a sequence spanning 43 years. It started with a first round European Champion Clubs’ Cup tie in 1958/59 when they overcame Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1. Schalke’s home record against English teams is W3 D2 L2. Chelsea lost 2-1 at Bayer Leverkusen in the 2011/12 group stage, their fourth defeat in six away games against Bundesliga sides. Their sole victory came at VfB Stuttgart in the 2003/04 round of 16, winning 1-0. Chelsea’s overall record against Bundesliga opponents is W7 D4 L4.

Steaua lost both opening fixtures, conceding seven goals without scoring themselves, while Basel could not build on their surprise 2-1 matchday one victory at Chelsea, going down 1-0 at home to Schalke last time out. Steaua are unbeaten in their four home games against Swiss opponents and have enjoyed resounding wins – 6-0 against BSC Young Boys in the 1979/80 European Cup Winners’ Cup first round and 4-1 against Servette in the 1994/95 UEFA Champions League qualifying round. Basel lost 1-0 in Romania to CFR Cluj in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League play-off, Pantelis Kapetanos scoring the only goal. After losing 2-1 at home it meant they missed out on a place in the group stage. They faced the same team in the 2010/11 group stage, losing 2-1 away and winning 1-0 at home.

Player to watch out for

Max Meyer (Schalke): Max Meyer scored his first Bundesliga goal for Schalke on 5 October in a 4-1 win against Augsburg, adding another on Saturday. He set up a goal for Kevin-Prince Boateng inside 157 seconds of his first start for the club on 28 September in a 3-3 draw at Hoffenheim having scored his first competitive goal in last month’s German Cup win at third-tier SV Darmstadt.

André Schürrle (Chelsea): Schürrle scored his first professional hat-trick – in the space of 19 second-half minutes – as Germany recovered from 2-0 down to win 5-3 in Sweden last Tuesday. He will look to continue his form, especially on his return to Germany, and may make a big impact from the bench.