EFL Cup: Stamford Bridge Set for Semi-Final Showdown

Chelsea vs Middlesbrough

A place in the first showpiece of the season awaits either Championship outfit Middlesbrough or money-bags Chelsea.

In terms of investment and squad depth, Tuesday night’s second leg EFL Cup tie should be a mismatch.

Yet football doesn’t always work like that and, with Boro holding a slender but unexpected first leg advantage, the onus and all the pressure is very much on the Premier League big hitters.

Talking Points

While Chelsea were having their ‘free week’ away from Premier League combat with a warm weather training camp in Morocco, Boro were in Championship action on Saturday.

In fact, they needed Marcus Forss to rescue a point with a late goal against bottom club Rotherham United at the Riverside Stadium.

Michael Carrick’s men may have been lacklustre but that was understandable given the game was just three days before this tie.

Carrick had warned his Boro side how difficult it might be to “shut off” thoughts of the trip to Stamford Bridge and his words proved accurate.

If they could not have had any more misfortune with injuries than during the opening exchanges of the first leg, there was a further blow to contend with this weekend as Isaiah Jones was forced off with what seemed to be a hamstring injury.

Boro are already missing Alex Bangura, Riley McGree, Paddy McNair, Darragh Lenihan and Thomas Smith so the visitors know a tough job is now even tougher.

For Chelsea, EFL Cup highlights could save their season.

Their soap opera of the past 18 months – they won only 12 of their 43 league games in 2023 (the fewest they had recorded in a calendar year since 1995) –finally seems to have some stability under Mauricio Pochettino and victory against Fulham last time out meant his side had won a fourth home league match on the bounce for the first time since July 2020.

Granted, the Argentine has a lot of work to do before they are competing for major honours again.

One of their problems has been in front of goal with their main striker Christopher Nkunku missing a large chunk of the campaign to date due to a knee injury sustained in pre-season.

While they hope to have him and Ben Chilwell back on Tuesday, Reece James, Lesley Ugochukwu, Romeo Lavia, Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana are all sidelined.

Not that they can use injuries as a legitimate excuse given the money they have spent over the past year and a half.

With plenty of talent available, they should be far too strong and, if they secure another home success, they will have a trip to Wembley at the end of February to look forward to.

History

Boro’s first leg triumph ended a run of nine straight defeats to Chelsea for the Teesiders, a run which stretched back to August 2006 when late goals from Emanuel Pogatetz and Mark Viduka overturned an Andriy Shevchenko opener to seal a 2-1 Premier League win against the defending champions.

Before nearly a fortnight ago, they had not met in this competition since the 1998 Final when Frank Sinclair and Roberto Di Matteo netted in extra-time for a 2-0 Chelsea victory.

You actually have to go back to 1975 and the former Division One to the last occasion when Boro triumphed at Stamford Bridge.

That was a 2-1 success when John Craggs and Alan Willey were the scorers with Joahnny Sparrow replying for the west Londoners.

Overall, Chelsea have defeated Boro 57 times with 29 draws and 32 Middlesborough victories.

The inaugural meeting in December 1907 in Division One was settled by a Frederick Rowe goal in favour of the hosts at Stamford Bridge.

Betting Tip

The SBOTOP EFL Cup betting odds say Chelsea all the way and, to overturn their one goal deficit, Correct Score 2-0 will pay out @ 7.20.

The hosts are also on offer 1X2 @ 1.25 and Asian Handicap -1.75 @ 1.97 and -2.00 @ 2.28.

The Championship outfit are outsiders, as you would expect, priced 1X2 @ 7.80 and Asian Handicap +1.75 @ 1.93.

Carrick’s side would take a draw, of course, and that is available @ 5.50.

I do not think this will be a low scoring affair – their last goalless draw was 20 years ago – and that is reflected on odds of Total Goal 0-1 @ 6.60, 2-3 @ 2.21. 4-6 @ 2.35 and Over 3.50 goals @ 2.19.

The work Carrick is overseeing in the north-east since taking charge 15 months ago is top drawer, while Pocchettino has also quietly impressed since taking on a very different project with seemingly unlimited wealth.

It is that mass of talent that will surely see them through what, on paper, is a David and Golath tie and that is why my *** tip is for Chelsea First Half Asian Handicap -0.75 @ 1.95 on their way to an overall triumph which will see them reach next month’s final.

 

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