Chelsea FC Visit Stoke City: TV, Times, All The Details
Chelsea travel to the Britannia in a Capital One Cup tie.
Chelsea FC travel northwards this evening to square off with Stoke City in the Capital One Cup Round of 16. Smarting after yet another loss this past Saturday, Jose Mourinho will be hoping that his men can somehow scrape through to keep alive their only realistic shot of silverware.
The 2-1 defeat at the hands of West Ham United meant that Chelsea have now lost five out of their 10 opening Premier League games. With a points tally that outnumbers their matches played by just one, the Blues find themselves down in 15th place, perilously close to the likes of Newcastle United.
The club returned from the international break with a convincing and encouraging 2-0 win over Aston Villa. Even though Tim Sherwood’s men posed little threat, optimism was rife. This only grew after a well-earned point against Dynamo Kiev a few days later.
However, a visit to Upton Park brought Chelsea hurtling back down to earth. The team once again lacked inspiration and for all that you can say regarding the offside incident or Kurt Zouma’s header, the Blues simply deserved the loss.
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Furthermore, problems are piling up off the pitch as well. In addition to Nemanja Matic’s double-booking (before the end of the first half), both first team coach Silvino Louro and the boss himself were sent to the stands after altercations with the referee.
Chaos is the most apt word at the moment and there is no telling what will happen next.
Stoke City, meanwhile, will be high on confidence heading into this clash. Despite falling to Watford 2-0 at the weekend, they were undefeated in their five fixtures previous to the loss.
Mark Hughes has been supporting Mourinho in the lead up to the meeting, stating that he is the ideal man to turn things around at Stamford Bridge. Given Chelsea’s current struggles, the more cynical among us would say that the Stoke boss is merely looking to take advantage of the turmoil with Mourinho at the helm.
Chelsea will likely be without Pedro, Loic Remy and Branislav Ivanovic, who are still fighting minor niggles. Stoke, meanwhile, should welcome back Ryan Shawcross for his first appearance of the season. Fortunately, from a Blues point of view, ex-Barcelona forward Bojan is a doubt.
So here is all that you need to know.
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Stoke City v Chelsea FC, October 27th 2015
Capital One Cup Round of 16
Venue: The Britannia
Time: 19:45 GMT, 15:45 ET
TV: Untelevised – Highlights: Channel 5 (28th Oct, 11pm) (UK), beIN Sports USA (US), check your country’s local listings here
The teams only met in the Premier League last season, with Chelsea running out as victors in both clashes. The Blues won 2-0 in the Britannia leg, before scraping by with a 2-1 triumph at Stamford Bridge. The last time that these two met in the League Cup was back in 1995, when Chelsea lost to the Potters 1-0 over a two-legged affair.
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