Preview
Chelsea will look to continue the defence of the Capital One Cup in the 4th round vs Stoke City on a potentially wet and cold Tuesday night in what is a big game for The Blues and Jose Mourinho. Both teams lost at the weekend with Chelsea losing 2-1 away to West Ham whilst Stoke lost at home 2-0 to newly promoted Watford.
Chelsea have had a tough start to the season having already lost 6 games in all competitions this season. Mourinho will look to make some changes in this game by rotating his squad and give some of the squad players minutes.
Stoke on the other hand have won 4 of their last 5 games and seem to have revitalised their form after starting poorly. Their attacking play could cause havoc to Chelsea’s defence; who have looked very shaking this season, conceding 22 goals in 14 games.
Chelsea’s last trip up to the Britannia stadium was in april where they won 2-1 thanks to Loic Remy’s winner in the 62nd minute. Stoke have only got 1 win in the last 11 games against Chelsea with that victory being in December 2012 where Oussama Assaidi 90th minute screamer saddened many Chelsea fans as he helped his side get a 3-2 victory over us.
But hopefully tomorrow night it will be Chelsea who win and progress to the 5th round. Come on Chelsea!
Match details
Tuesday, 27th October, kick off at 7:45 pm (UK Time) at The Britannia Stadium.
Recent form and previous meetings
In all competitions Stoke have won 4 (Fulham, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Swansea) of their last 5 games, losing the remaining one vs Watford at the weekend.
Meanwhile Chelsea have only managed to win 1 (Aston Villa) of their last 5 games and have lost 3 (Porto, Southampton and West Ham). They drew the other match vs Dynamo Kyiv.
In our last 10 meetings with Stoke, Chelsea have come out on top winning 7 and only losing once which was a 90th minute winner. The other two games were a 1-1 and 0-0 draws.
Chelsea have also been the better side away from home vs Stoke in our last 10 meetings too winning 6, drawing 3 and losing just 1.
Team news
Chelsea will still be without Branislav Ivanovic and Thibaut Courtois for the trip to The Britannia. Loic Remy and Pedro both have had minor injuries and will be doubts for the game however there is a chance either could make the squad. Mourinho is expected to make changes to the side which faced West Ham to freshen things up. Squad players who have had little minutes so far this season such as John Obi Mikel, Radamel Falcao and Baba Rahman will all be pushing for starts. Chelsea will be without the suspended Nemanja Matic who received a red card in our defeat to West Ham after committing 2 bookable offences. His one match ban applies to all domestic competitions so he therefore will be eligible to face Liverpool on Saturday.
Stoke also have a few problems of their own. At the weekend Geoff Cameron picked up an injury and will be out of tomorrow’s cup tie. Marc Muniesa and Bojan both have slight injuries of their own too therefore both are doubts. However Stoke also have some good news regarding team selection, Mame Diouf and Ryan Shawcross are both back available and in Mark Hughes’ thoughts for his team selection.
My prediction
I believe tomorrow night will be a very tough match due to Stoke’s turn in form in recent weeks. Chelsea are currently on a low after defeat to The Hammers and the pressure is building on Mourinho and the squad to quickly turn our season around.
My prediction: Stoke 2-1 Chelsea.
