Chelsea open their Capital One Cup campaign with a visit to Walsall on Wednesday night
Chelsea FC begin their defence of the Capital One Cup on Wednesday evening as they pay a visit to Walsall FC in the third round of the competition.
The Blues are riding high after opening their Champions League campaign in emphatic fashion and taking a step towards righting their sinking Premier League ship. Jose Mourinho had made a host of changes to the starting XI for the European clash with Maccabi Tel-Aviv which resulted in a 4-0 win. Chelsea then carried that form into the weekend’s league meeting with Arsenal where they were assisted by a healthy dose of controversy in a 2-0 triumph.
The club’s world seems to have been turned upside down over the last week. After falling to John Stones and Everton 3-1 little over seven days ago, Chelsea were in a poor place with doom and gloom rife. However, a refreshed Blues outfit took advantage of what was a frankly poor Maccabi team and demolished them to the tune of four goals.
Due to the opposition’s relative inadequacies, there was no complacency around Stamford Bridge as Arsenal arrived. Consequently, Chelsea managed to pull out a 2-0 win (with the help of a couple of red cards of course) and now Blues fans truly believe that the season is underway.
Furthermore, Manchester City went on to lose at home to West Ham United later on Saturday to leave Chelsea just eight points off the league-leaders.
Chelsea now travel to the Banks’s Stadium to face the Saddlers in what may be the club’s best shot at silverware this season. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how they may line-up.
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Goalkeeper
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Defence
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Midfield
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Wings
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Eden Hazard
10, Belgium
Eden Hazard has been poor in the early part of this season but has shown signs of life in recent games. Despite blasting a penalty over the bar against Maccabi, the Belgian improved in the second half and showed glimpses of his illustrious form from last season.
In the Arsenal clash, Hazard didn’t exactly take another step forward but he didn’t take a step back either. Wednesday provides him with a great opportunity to get a goal or two and boost his own confidence.
Next: Attacking Midfield And Striker
Attacking Midfield And Striker
Edit: Jose Mourinho has in fact confirmed that Radamel Falcao will start. So yeah, I guess Loic Remy won’t start…at least in the striker role.
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