Chelsea draw Leeds away in the Capital One Cup quarterfinals

Chelsea advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Capital One Cup with a victory over Manchester United on Wednesday, and they have now been drawn against Leeds United. Leeds will host the game, as they were the first ball drawn. With the results of the last several days, this has now become a ridiculously watered down competition. The complete draw is as follows:

Leeds United vs. Chelsea FC

Swansea vs. Middlesbrough

Norwich vs. Aston Villa

Bradford vs. Arsenal

The quarterfinal round is scheduled for the week that Chelsea are away at the Club World Cup, so Chelsea's game will be played on December 19, 2012. All three of the other quarters will have already been played when Chelsea kick off, so we'll already know the potential semi-final opponents before we take the pitch in an attempt to get there.

With the fixture list being extremely congested in mid-December, I'd expect to see Roberto Di Matteo approach the quarters with a very similar approach that he took against United. It might also be a last chance for Lucas Piazon to get a run before the transfer window re-opens, and I'd have to think he's going to be considered for a loan spell in the spring. If Chelsea reach the semi-final round, it will be a two legged affair with our ACoN contingent unavailable for the second leg.