Leeds United v Chelsea FC Capital One Cup Quarter Final Elland Road Wednesday 19th December, 7.45pm Kick Off Well Leeds v Chelsea is a rivalry which has grown since the 1970 FA Cup Final which Chelsea won on a replay. Since then the rivalry escalated and though these two sides haven't played each other for 8 years, there is a lot of hatred and passion involved in these matches. Chelsea go into the game after having just lost in the Club World Cup Final in Japan 1-0 to Corinthians. They qualified for this stage of the League Cup with a thrilling 5-4 win over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge. In the League Cup they have scored 11 goals in 2 games, conceding 4 and beating Wolves and United on their way to this stage of the competition. Chelsea return to England from Japan on Monday evening and have little time to prepare for this clash. Leeds come into this big game on the back of a 2-0 home win in the Championship against Ipswich Town. In the League Cup they have beaten Shrewsbury Town, Oxford United, Everton and Southampton with a 3-0 win in the last round over the Saints. Confidence is high with 4 wins out of their last 5 Championship games including a 4-2 win over local rivals Huddersfield Town. Team News: Discuss below as to what/ who will start for either team as, in the case of Chelsea, it could be anyone! Rafa Benitez will be desperate to win this game in order to raise morale in the squad after defeat in Japan while Neil Warnock has made it clear that he wants a good cup run and this may provide for extra incentive (if you ever needed one in this game) to get the win against the West London side. Elland Road is a sell out with 3000 Chelsea fans making the journey from down South and all parts of the ground in the home end (apart form the South Stand Lower which is closed due to segregation issues) are sold out. It will be a hostile but brilliant atmosphere on a cold West Yorkshire night and this is going to be a cracking game between two fierce rivals. Leeds fans chanting about Chelsea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21e_0tneU2s Chelsea fans chanting about Leeds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve_FggPLstg Enjoy the game!
We won't have. Just hope the quality sees us over the line but this has 'upset' written all over it. Which would be tragic given we have a real chance of winning this given who is left and we should take this chance to try and win something this year.
Let's not overstimate Leeds and underestimate ourselves here. Warnock traditionally never has taken cup competitions seriously and they are in good form in the league. If we turn up we'll win, that I have no doubt about. I actualy hope Sturridge starts just because he'll be fresh.
Very tough assignment after our last week or two. Some say Coco is good tactically, well if so I'd like to see it against Leeds, cause he got it seriously wrong against Corinthians.
Cahill, Ramires & Mikel suspended aren't they? Hope he plays Nathan Ake in Defence, i know he's in the squad and he looks class in the youth side. Or at least play Saville. Will probably go with Lampard & Oscar in midfield with Luiz & Iva at Centre Back though. Yawn.
My predict for the team giving into account some of our players need a rest Cech Azpi - Ivanovic - Saville - Bertrand Luiz - Lampard Moses - Oscar - Marin Torres Don't think Sturridge will be played if an impending move to Pool could be scuppered by injury
if Lampard is off in January, as is suspected, then I wouldn't play him either. In fact I wouldn't play him at all as a starter, he just slows everything down too much. He can be very useful coming on with 35 mins to go, as he can go flat to the boards, and his experience is a help if we are struggling. Just don't start him pleeeeeease.
Hope its a good match, the effects of only getting back to the UK yesterday should be a leveler. Obviously no love lost on either side, for us its a no lose situation, win and its through to the semi's with 3 Premiership clubs beaten to get there, lose and it was sort of expected anyway and we can concentrate on the league. Lots of pressure on your team in a hostile stadium against an energetic if technically lacking team. CWC final mk2.
I think Lampard has to start. We need some players in there who know about these sort of games. It's as much about application and attitude as it is ability. Any 11 we put out will be better than Leeds so I'd rather we play some of the fighters especially in midfield. Also with no Ramieres, Mikel or Romeu who realistically would play centre mid? We'll be scrapping a team together as it is.
"Some say Coco is good tactically, well if so I'd like to see it against Leeds, cause he got it seriously wrong against Corinthians." Agreed
Chelsea will look to bounce back after the defeat against Corinthians. There will be some changes as Cahill, Ramires and Mikel are suspended. ------------------Cech------------- Azpilicueta---Ivanovic---David Luiz---Cole ----------Oscar---Lampard------ -------Moses---Mata----Hazard------ ---------------Torres---------------
