Predictions for Chelsea’s EFL Cup opener vs. Bristol Rovers
Antonio Conte begins his first domestic cup pursuit with Chelsea FC in the EFL Cup. Here are some predictions ahead of the second-round tie against Bristol Rovers at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea comes into the EFL Cup opener with a head of steam after consecutive comeback victories against West Ham United and Watford. Bristol Rovers bring less momentum to Stamford Bridge, going 1W-1D-2L to open their season in League One. We asked random Twitter follower Freddy from New York (@Curious_Porge) and the Pride of London staff for their predictions.
Freddy: 3-1 to Chelsea. If Conte comes out with a strong starting lineup, this game might be out of reach for Rovers before the 20th minute. I anticipate a few early goals as Bristol have had issues with conceding in the Championship. Hopefully Conte will then use the second half to run out some of the younger players like Nathaniel Chalobah and Ola Aina (assuming they dont get the start). This should be the first clean sheet of the season, but you never know with our current back line.
Ayushman Basu: 4-1 to Chelsea. Chelsea will be fielding some youngsters for this match and should start with the dual strike partnership, resulting in a good scoreline.
Drew Hooper: 3-1 Chelsea. Defense is still leaky, so look for Aina and Chalobah to get a run out along with Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Ultimately youngsters and fringe players will play and handle their business early on in this cup draw.
Neel Madhavan: 2-0 Chelsea. Conte will use this match to experiment a bit with youth and with formations. Could we perhaps see a 2-striker formation to start a match for the first time this season after how successful it’s been?
Andre Carlisle: 3-0 Chelsea. The first clean sheet of the season further convinces the board that spending on defensive replacements would be superfluous. The 2016/17 iteration of Terry-Cahill proves to be a perfect blend of experience and ability as mumblings likening them to a dreamland partnership of Beckenbauer-Maldini begin to spread.
Travis Tyler: 5-0 Chelsea. Bristol Rovers are a newly-promoted League One side and have struggled with the start of their season in a new league. Expect them to at least try for the first half, before accepting that they have bigger things to worry about than a cup they have almost no chance of winning when a Fabregas-fed Diego Costa and Michy Batshuayi partnership begins to give the Bristol Rovers’ goalkeeper back problems.
Daniel Mcclue: 1-0 Chelsea. Youngsters will struggle in the first half meaning Eden Hazard has to come off the bench to do it all himself. The match leads to another 43 youth players being loaned out.
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Brendan McDonnell: 3-0 Chelsea. The Blues will need a little while to warm up. Once they do, they will score two in the second half to put the match out of reach.
Who’s been the best predictor of Chelsea’s fortunes so far? Predicting the score earns five points, and getting the result right earns three.
| Name | Correct Scores | Correct Results | Total Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Travis Tyler | 3 | 30 | 105 |
| Scott Brant | 5 | 21 | 88 |
| Daniel McClue | 2 | 21 | 73 |
| Ben Croft | 3 | 14 | 57 |
| Barrett Rouen | 3 | 8 | 39 |
| Brendan McDonnell | 1 | 11 | 38 |
| Andre Carlisle | 3 | 7 | 36 |
| Ayushman Basu | 1 | 6 | 23 |
| Rayna Sidhu | 1 | 6 | 23 |
| Random Twitter Followers | 1 | 5 | 20 |
| Khaled Abdallah | 1 | 5 | 20 |
| Ollie Miller | 1 | 4 | 17 |
| Drew Hooper | 1 | 3 | 14 |
| Ajitesh Rasgotra | 0 | 4 | 12 |
| Martin Connolly | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| Kee Min | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| Elkebir Lamrani | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| George Perry | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Alex Gisi | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Neel Madhavan | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Anoop Ramakrishnan | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Eric Overbey | 0 | 1 | 3 |
What do you think? Anyone brave / pessimistic / Bristol enough to call an EFL Cup upset?