Chelsea have the opportunity to register an eighth-straight victory across all competitions when they host Manchester United in the fourth round of the League Cup on Wednesday night.
The Blues suffered an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to the Red Devils in the Premier League curtain-raiser and manager Frank Lampard will want his team to avenge the result in front of their supporters.
Predicted Lineup:
Willy Caballero has made just one appearance this term and that came during the League Cup third round triumph over Grimsby Town, where the Blues registered a comfortable 7-1 win. He will most likely continue as the first-choice goalkeeper for the Cup competition.
In the defence, no changes are expected in the central defensive spots with Andreas Christensen out with a hamstring injury while Antonio Rudiger remains unavailable due to fitness concerns. Fikayo Tomori and Kurt Zouma should feature at the heart of the backline.
At right-back, Lampard may consider resting Cesar Azpilicueta and that should offer another opportunity to Reece James to make his mark. On the opposite end of the central defence, Emerson should make his first appearance in more than a month after recovering from a thigh problem.
In the midfield, Lampard may go with the senior combination with club graduate Billy Gilmour probably making an appearance off the bench. With N’Golo Kante still working his way to match fitness, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic are likely to keep their places in the centre of the park.
Further forward, the likes of Mason Mount, Willian and Tammy Abraham may be afforded with a rest on the bench. When compared to the trio, Christian Pulisic has played the least this season and he should feature on the left wing after bagging his maiden professional hat-trick in a superb display at Burnley last weekend.
Besides this, Pedro and Callum Hudson-Odoi should return to the starting mix while Michy Batshuayi should get the nod over Olivier Giroud to lead the line. The Belgian striker has been in impressive touch of late and was surprisingly an unused substitute at Burnley despite bagging the match-winner against Lille prior to that.
Blue is the colour
