Chelsea face London rivals Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening, marking Liam Rosenior’s first home game as Blues manager.
Chelsea won 3-1 at Cardiff City in the quarter-finals, while the current Premier League table-toppers edged Crystal Palace 8-7 on penalties, after a 1-1 draw in normal time.
Match preview
This is the second meeting between the two sides this season, following their 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge in November.
However, this marks Rosenior’s first managerial meeting with Arsenal and Mikel Arteta, adding further intrigue to the tie.
Rosenior got off to a winning start as Chelsea boss, recording a 5-1 win at Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup third round.
Chelsea played with a 4-2-3-1 formation against Charlton but built up in a 3-2-2-3 system, similar to the one used by Rosenior at Strasbourg. It remains to be seen whether they would adopt the same here.
Arsenal head into the clash, hoping to make amends for their failure to beat Chelsea last time out, despite playing with a numerical advantage for most of the game.
The Gunners came from behind to claim a 4-1 victory at Portsmouth in the FA Cup third round on Sunday, fielding a makeshift squad with an eye on this fixture.
Arteta’s side lost to eventual champions Newcastle United at this stage of the competition last season and will be aiming to avoid the same fate this time around.
Head-to-head
The two sides have met eight times in the competition. Chelsea have registered four wins as compared to Arsenal’s three, while one match ended in a draw.
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Team news
Chelsea are without Moises Caicedo due to suspension, while a decision will be made on the availability of Malo Gusto, Reece James, and Cole Palmer.
Piero Hincapie, Max Dowman, Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera are sidelined for Arsenal.
Predicted line-ups
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Robert Sanchez, Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella, Enzo Fernandez, Reece James, Estevao, Cole Palmer, Pedro Neto, Liam Delap.
Arsenal (4-3-3): Kepa Arrizabalaga, Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyokeres, Leandro Trossard.
Prediction
We predict a 2-1 Arsenal win.
Stats from transfermarkt.com