There are now so much pressure on Villas Boas at the moment, even that The Blues just dominated 3-0 Wolves at Stamford Bridge last weekend. Carling Cup could not be optimal target of Chelsea this season, so Liverpool could be possibly expected a WIN this evening.
Liverpool could win tonight
Just 2 weeks ago, Chelsea have lost 2-1 against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, but at this moment, Villas-Boas will not put their best team on this game as they need to concenstrate on other important plans, especially on both Premier League and Champions League.
Before the quarter final match starts, Villas-Boas claimed that his young players will be given a chance to play in Carling Cup, it is a really good opportunity for them to develop and earn experience for the future. Furthermore, from the starts of Carling Cup, Chelsea only used young players such as Josh McEachran, Oriol Romeu, Ryan Bertrand… for their matches, so there will not surprised if these players play again tonight. At the moment, Chelsea is out of top 4 in Premier League, and have to face with that being out of Champions League after losing against Bayer Leverkusen last midweek. The Portuguese manager will not receive any criticism if they lost in the Carling Cup Quater Final as this is just a low target of Chelsea this season, but if they get disqualified for the Champions League Knockout rounds, there will be a big risk for his coach position at Chelsea. So there will be even more evidence that Chelsea will give up Carling Cup and spend all of their strength for the other competitions.
Statistics:
Head-to-head
- This is their fifth meeting in League Cup history. Both teams have won two ties each, although Chelsea have been victorious in the last two, including the 2005 final.
- Kenny Dalglish has never lost to Chelsea in 12 matches as manager of Liverpool, winning nine and drawing three.
- Chelsea have won 12 times and Liverpool 10 of the 29 matches between the sides since October 2004.
Chelsea
- The four-time winners are looking to qualify for the semi-finals for the 11th time in their history.
- They are facing Premier League opposition for the third time in their three Carling Cup ties this season.
- The 0-0 draw (after extra-time) with Fulham in the third round is the only time Chelsea have failed to score in 23 ties.
Liverpool
- They have only failed to find the back of the net once in 41 League Cup outings – a 2-0 away defeat to Chelsea in the 2007 quarter-finals.
- This is their seventh away tie in their last eight League Cup matches.
- Liverpool are the most successful club in League Cup history, having won the competition seven times.
Predicted line-up:
Predicted results: Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool
