FORMER Chelsea winger Pat Nevin expects old pal Owen Coyle to contribute to an evening of entertainment at Stamford Bridge tonight.

The pair were team-mates at Motherwell in the late 90s, after Coyle had built up a goalscoring reputation south of the border with Bolton.

And Nevin is impressed with the methods the former St Johnstone boss has established south of the border with Burnley.

“Owen Coyle is an old friend of mine from my days playing for Motherwell,” said Nevin in his chelseafc.com column.

“He was a fine striker who was most famous for knocking them in at an impressive rate for Bolton Wanderers.

“As such, he likes his teams to be attack-minded and creative as well, so he will be very tempted to send out an offensive team, knowing that if they sit back at Stamford Bridge it’s likely to be only a matter of time before his team lose a goal.”

And Nevin added it would make for a refreshing change on Chelsea territory.

“In the end if could be a pretty entertaining evening, as most teams – even those in the Premier League tend to be defensive when they come to London’s West End,” he said.

Michael Ballack, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Didier Drogba and Ricardo Carvalho are all nearing a comeback.

Drogba and Joe Cole were both expected to feature tonight, but there was a question mark over England midfielder Cole’s fitness ahead of the 7.45pm kick-off.

Ballack has returned to training following a foot injury, having been sidelined for more than a month after aggravating the problem while playing against Aston Villa, but is likely to be rested until Saturday’s league game at West Brom.