Cesar Navas, Ivan Marcano and Roman Sharonov will fight for two places in the centre of defence, while Oleg Kuzmin may replace Gokdeniz Karadeniz on the right-hand side of midfield.
Chelsea face a potential dilemma at left-back, with the injured Ashley Cole's (hamstring) usual deputy Ryan Bertrand (virus) unfit to travel. Nathan Ake is the club's only other natural left-back, while Paulo Ferreira could fill in from his preferred right-back position.
Gary Cahill is still a couple of weeks away from returning after undergoing minor arthroscopic surgery to shave the meniscus on the knee he damaged in last month's win against West Ham.
With Demba Ba cup-tied, Fernando Torres will continue up front, having scored twice in the first leg at Stamford Bridge.
David Luiz, Ramires and Juan Mata are likely to be rested after playing three games in less than a week, so John Terry, Frank Lampard and Victor Moses should come into the starting line-up.
- Chelsea have won all five of their previous games against Russian sides, conceding just twice in the process.
- The Blues beat Spartak Moscow 2-0 on their last visit to the Luzhniki Stadium, in the 2010-11 Champions League group stage.
- John Terry (right) will make his 100th European appearance if he plays in Moscow.
- Rubin's only previous home game against English opponents resulted in a 1-0 win over Tottenham in last season's Europa League.
- However, the Russians' only three defeats in their last 22 European 'home' games have come when hosting their matches in Moscow, as opposed to their Tsentralnyi Stadion in Kazan.
- Having already eliminated Europa League winners Atletico Madrid in the round of 32, Rubin could complete an unlikely double of knocking out the holders of both of last season's European trophies if they overcome Champions League holders Chelsea.
