Carling Cup third round
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Date: Wednesday, 21 September
Kick-off: 1945 BST
After the drama of the Premier League at the weekend, it’s Fulham in the Carling Cup tonight – nice to get an easy run of games eh?
Whilst we came out of a tough game against United worse off on Sunday, Fulham battled back to grab a point off the other side of Manchester, so the chances are there’ll be a few changes to either side tonight.
MANAGERS’ VIEWS
It goes without saying all Andre Villas-Boas has been asked about since Sunday is that Fernando Torres miss but ahead of tonight’s game, the Chelsea manager insists “It is not a question about an individual player. We are very happy with how the team has responded and we have managed two days’ training. Everybody has come back strong and with the correct frame of mind to change from one competition to another.” Whilst on the side he might put out tonight, AVB says “Opportunities will be given to our youngest players. We have to put ourselves of course in a situation where we can try to win the game and try to continue in the competition.”
Fulham manager Martin Jol seems to be ready to ring the changes, saying “I would not say it is one too many if you don’t play in Europe, but it is certainly one too many if you play in other competitions. Chelsea are also playing a lot of games at the moment so they will probably play different players. If you do not have these games in Europe, you can easily play your best team, which is what I did in my first year at Spurs. The Carling Cup is there for a team outside the top four to win – on the other hand, you play a lot of games in Europe, so that is the only disappointing thing.
But I still feel positive because I have players in the positions, like [Matthew] Briggs at the back and [Zdenek] Grygera, Stephen Kelly, a lot of younger players too, so I don’t think that would weaken the team. I think we can line up a very good team against Chelsea – if I do not play Bobby Zamora, then I can use Orlando Sa, he has not played yet and has to start somewhere, so you never know. The Carling Cup is there for teams like Fulham to win.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Chelsea, Michael Essien (knee) remains a long-term absentee although Didier Drogba (head) returns and is likely to start alongside Romelu Lukaku. With AVB ready to sent the youngsters out tonight, Josh McEachran, Oriol Romeu and Ryan Bertrand could all get a start. Unfortunately, so could Ross Turnball.
For Fulham, Bjorn Helge Riise (groin) is out, Rafik Halliche (illness) is a doubt and Aaron Hughes (knee) isn’t likely to return before the weekend. Danny Murphy and Brede Hangeland are among those likely to be rested.
TEAMS
CHELSEA (from): Cech, Ivanovic, Bertrand, Bosingwa, Ferreira, Terry, Luiz, Alex, Cole, Mikel, Romeu, McEachran, Ramires, Lampard, Meireles, Mata, Malouda, Torres, Anelka, Sturridge, Kalou, Lukaku, Turnbull.
FULHAM (from): Schwarzer, Halliche, Baird, Grygera, Senderos, Sa, Gecov, J A Riise, Briggs, Kasami, Sidwell, Duff, Dembele, Etheridge, Kelly, Ruiz, Zamora, Frei.
LAST MEETING
Fulham 0-0 Chelsea (14th February 2011)
PREDICTION
We’ve met Fulham a couple of times in the League Cup and beaten them both times (1985, 2004) and we’ve scored in 21 consecutive League Cup games. Mind you, before we get too carried away with that, we should probably remember we went out to Newcastle at this stage last season although having said that, our opponents haven’t been beyond the third round since the 2004-05 season. Good job we play on grass then because on paper it doesn’t bode well for an exciting cup game really!
Blue is the colour
