Chelsea were stunned by Bradford in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday and will be desperate to bounce back against Liverpool in Tuesday’s Capital One Cup semi-final second leg.
The two sides shared the spoils at Anfield a week ago with the Blues grateful to escape with a draw after a second half onslaught from the home side. Jose Mourinho made nine changes for the FA Cup and all looked to be going well as they moved into a 2-0 lead. The wheels came off dramatically after that with matters going from bad to worse after the introduction of Fabregas, Hazard and Willian.
It would be dangerous to read too much into one defeat. After all, Chelsea had put up a similar performance when conceding five goals at Tottenham but came back strongly with three victories. The last of those was a thumping 5-0 win at Swansea, a result which had the pundits spouting superlatives once again.
It seems safe to assume that Courtois, Terry, Matic and Costa will return to the side on Tuesday. Presumably Hazard, Fabregas and Willian will also start as Chelsea bid to book a Wembley place. The Capital One Cup would have been fourth in the order of preference for silverware this season but takes on new significance in the wake of Saturday’s result.
Liverpool did not exactly set the world alight with a bore draw against Bolton and face a tricky replay. The weak performances by Liverpool and Man United were almost forgotten with Chelsea and Man City crashing out so dramatically. Raheem Sterling gave Brendan Rodgers’s team a lifeline at Anfield and will be the danger man again on Tuesday night. Chelsea’s central partnership of Cahill and Terry has looked slow at times this season and it is easy to imagine Liverpool breaking through at some point.
Unfortunately for them, they are less certain to score twice with want-away skipper Steven Gerrard currently leading goal scorer with five. Meanwhile, Diego Costa has racked up 17 for the Blues and he will be trying to get under their skin again here. There was apparently some “afters” in the tunnel between Costa and Jordan Henderson so the game will have its usual spice. Chelsea are well equipped to deal with a physical contest and they can come through a typically tough encounter.
Chelsea to win in 90 minutes @4-6 BetVictor
Chelsea 3 Liverpool 1 @12-1 Bet365
Diego Costa to score and Chelsea win @7-5 Ladbrokes
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