Chelsea FC will travel to take on Walsall FC in the 3rd Round of the Capital One Cup
Chelsea FC will be forced to travel to the Midlands to face lower league Walsall FC as they look to retain the Capital One Cup. This will be the first game for the Blues in this competition as European-committed sides enter at the 3rd Round.
The League Cup, known as the Capital One Cup for evident sponsorship reasons, was the first trophy that Jose Mourinho won after returning to Stamford Bridge. As Chelsea set out to defend the crown, they will head northwards to pay a visit to the League 1 outfit.
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The date and time for the meeting has now also been announced, with the cup tie taking place on Wednesday 23rd September at 19:45 BST at Bank’s Stadium.
This will be the first fixture between the two sides in a very, very long time. If my research proves correct, the last time the pair met in any competition was 23 years ago. On October 7th, 1992, the Blues hosted the Saddlers again in the League Cup and ran out 1-0 winners.
In fact, Chelsea have only lost one of their eleven matches with Walsall throughout history, and have won nine of them. This bodes well for a fixture in which Jose Mourinho will want to field a significantly weaker side.
However, the boss would be naive to underestimate Dean Smith’s men. Walsall are undefeated so far in this campaign, and have only dropped two points.
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Furthermore, the Saddlers have knocked out two Championship sides en route to this 3rd Round match, seeing off Nottingham Forest and Brighton.
Having said that, Chelsea will be relieved to have been handed what is an easy draw on paper. With their poor start to the season, some of the cynics may say that this is the only competition that the Blues have a chance of winning.
While this is somewhat of an exaggeration, Chelsea certainly could do without difficult cup ties as they try to get their campaign back on the right track.
Elsewhere, Manchester United will host Ipswich Town while their crosstown rivals City will travel to Sunderland for an all-Premier League affair.
The tie of the round, meanwhile, will see the North London derby play out with Tottenham Hotspur hosting Arsenal. These games always seem to deliver on entertainment and it will definitely be a match that will have me in front of the TV.
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Here is the full draw (Premier League teams in bold):
Middlesbrough v Wolves
Norwich City v West Brom
Hull City v Swansea
Leicester City v West Ham
Aston Villa v Birmingham
Tottenham v Arsenal
Manchester United v Ipswich Town
Liverpool v Carlisle United
Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic
Fulham v Stoke City
Sunderland v Manchester City
Newcastle United v Sheffield Wednesday
Reading v Barnsley or Everton
Preston v Bournemouth
Walsall v Chelsea
Milton Keynes Dons v Southampton
All ties will be played in the week beginning September 21st.
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