Chelsea FC Learn Capital One Cup Fate: Cold, Rainy Night In Stoke
Chelsea FC have learned their fate for the next round of the Capital One Cup with a trip to Stoke City in the offing.
Chelsea opened their defence of the Capital One Cup with an emphatic 4-1 win over Walsall last night. Despite fielding a weakened team, Jose Mourinho’s men carried on their resurgence by strolling past the League One outfit. The draw for the fourth round was made soon after the final whistle with Chelsea handed a tough trip to Stoke City.
Stoke represent the notorious away fixture that many jokingly claim the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid are not able to cope with. The Blues will have to overcome the challenge if they are to keep the chances of them retaining the League Cup alive.
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Despite their reputation, Mark Hughes’s side have been awful so far this season. They are winless in the Premier League, with three draws and three losses leaving them in 18th position. It is hard to fathom why they have been so poor but one would expect that their campaign will be back on track by the time this meeting arrives.
With the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri and Bojan in the squad, Stoke have taken a step forward as they look to bring a more attacking dimension to their always solid play. Perhaps they are struggling to bed in a new philosophy at the moment but Hughes is a good manager and should have the team sorted out over the next few weeks.
The Capital One Cup fixture will incidentally mean that the two sides will face off twice in a matter of weeks. With the cup tie scheduled for the week of 26th October, Stoke will again host the reigning champions a week and a bit later in the Premier League.
With regard to previous meetings, Chelsea have won four of the past five match-ups in all competitions but the two have not met in this particular tournament since the 1995/96 edition. Stoke City were triumphant on that occasion as a 1-0 second-leg win handed them a 1-0 win on aggregate.
Elsewhere in the draw, Manchester City will host Crystal Palace while Liverpool welcome Bournemouth after squeezing past Carlisle on penalties. Middlesbrough will travel to Manchester United, meanwhile, and Arsenal arguably receive the easiest draw with an away fixture at Sheffield Wednesday.
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Here is the full draw:
Manchester City v Crystal Palace
Liverpool v AFC Bournemouth
Manchester United v Middlesbrough
Everton v Norwich City
Southampton v Aston Villa
Sheffield Wednesday v Arsenal
Hull City v Leicester City
Stoke City v Chelsea
Games to be played during the week beginning 26th October.
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