EFL Cup is an opportunity for Chelsea to prove their ambition
By Travis Tyler
Chelsea’s ambition should always be to win as many trophies as they can. They can demonstrate their hunger for victory by taking the EFL Cup seriously.
The EFL Cup has fallen on hard times. As far as prestige of trophies goes, it comes dead last. Top clubs would rather hit the league running than deal with the distraction of a mid-week game against a club they only barely recognize.
The winner only gets a spot in the Europa League, which many clubs think is more of a detriment than a privilege. Sad to say, the winner is often forgotten before the season ends.
The FA Cup, which is extremely similar, at least holds on to its 100+ years of tradition, glory and desire. The EFL Cup collects the leftovers.
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But at a certain point, clubs and fans should care about the EFL Cup. Chelsea are at that point of the competition.
Sixteen clubs remain in the EFL Cup. Ten are fellow Premier League clubs. The remaining six clubs are all from the Championship and all are in the top half of the table. If Chelsea advance, there are no more fixtures that can be considered “easy.”
Only the clubs that expect to be in a European spot at the end of the season will be blase about advancing. Chelsea should not be one of those clubs.
Antonio Conte has favored rotation in the EFL Cup. He even rotated the squad heavily against the reigning Premier League champions when Chelsea played the Foxes in the cup last month.
Rotation can be a sign of not taking the cup as seriously as the league. But squad rotation is a chance to pit the bench and reserves against strong opponents. Players that have not played many league minutes, such as Michy Batshuayi, deserve more. The youth, who are finally getting their moment under Antonio Conte, deserve more.
More games in the League Cup mean these players get more chances to show their quality.The more the players take the EFL Cup seriously, the chances they will get to show Conte how good they are. Ultimately, they should use these opportunities to work their way into the Premier League rotation and starting XI.
If the youth and other players are as good as advertised, they need to be able to show they can handle EFL Cup competition like West Ham United. They need to show that they can not only beat a Championship club, but do so convincingly.
They cannot go through the motions and expect to beat anyone simply because of what kit they wear. Chelsea has struggled with an entitlement complex among its stars. The Blues cannot afford having that mindset afflict the youth.
The EFL Cup is just such an opportunity. In a year without Champion’s League football, every trophy is important to the players who do not frequent the starting XI. The EFL Cup is their chance to go out and show who they really are. Some will fail to impress. Others will rise to the occasion and earn more and more minutes.
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Currently, Nathaniel Chalobah is the poster boy for this movement. At the other end lies Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Since his debut against Leicester City in the EFL Cup, Chalobah has been a substitute in all but one match. Now, he looks all but certain to start against West Ham United on Wednesday. That came from him taking the cup seriously, and playing to the best of his abilities.
On the other hand, Ruben Loftus-Cheek was in the starting XI in the EFL Cup, but failed to capitalize. Some of this is due to him playing in a new position. But he has simply not proven himself capable of playing against top quality opposition. As a result he has only played a miniscule eight minutes in the league this season.
The contrast between Chalobah and Loftus-Cheek exemplifies why Chelsea should be playing to lift the League Cup in February. For the players that want to get more minutes, they will be given opportunities to prove they deserve it.
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Ideally, lifting the League Cup will give the Blues a taste of what they should be striving for in every match, regardless of importance. That feeling could spur the squad into a run of form that ends with them lifting more trophies in May. It all starts by taking the League Cup seriously.