Laudrup to lead against compatriots

Brian Laudrup, who knows all about the rotation of strikers, sees his career come almost full circle at Stamford Bridge tonight.

The Chelsea forward is almost certain to start against his fellow Danes, from FC Copenhagen, who share a home ground with Brondby, Laudrup's first club.

In fact it was because Brondby were drawn at home to Manchester United in the Champions League last night that Chelsea were forced to switch this first leg to London, thus forsaking the advantage of playing the second leg at Stamford Bridge.

Despite Gianluca Vialli's threat on Tuesday to punish any player who publicly criticises his decisions, Laudrup had already got over his problems with the playermanager's policy of rotating the front players having recently become a regular fixture in the side, playing alongside Gianfranco Zola just behind the central striker Pierluigi Casigraghi. It is a move which last weekend saw Chelsea move to fourth in the Premiership.

So it will be surprising if Laudrup is now rested, although this time he could find himself playing just behind Vialli and Tore Andre Flo.

Apart from Eddie Newton (cracked ankle bone), Chelsea have a full squad to choose from, with Graeme Le Saux back after injury and suspension.

FC Copenhagen were founded only six years ago, and they have struggled to emerge from Brondby's shadow. In fact, they only qualified for this competition as losing Cup finalists to Brondby.

Chelsea, despite struggling to beat the part-timers of Helsingborgs in the last round, could be fooled into thinking that tonight's game will be a pushover against a team who provided not one player for the recent Denmark squad.

But Laudrup is quick to warn against complacency. "I have played with some of the players and I've said to the boys here that in my opinion they are a stronger side than Helsingborgs," he said.

"They're a typical Scandinavian side - very strong, they run all day and put a lot of pressure on their opponents. They will hope we think it's going to be an easy game. But they have some good, experienced and talented players and we'll have to be aware they can do a lot of damage."

Laudrup singled out as potential threats two midfielders: Bjarne Goldbaek, a member of Denmark's France 98 World Cup squad, and Peter Nielsen, who had several successful seasons with Borussia Moenchengladbach.