Chelsea drawn against AFC Bournemouth in League Cup quarterfinal

Chelsea are set for a League Cup showdown against a Premier League opponent after yet another farcical draw, this time delayed by “technical difficulties” rather than obscured by taking place in the middle of the night halfway around the globe, or involving people who have nothing to do with football, or, worst of all, displaying incorrect teams, draws, or locations and thus opening up questions of draw-fixing and other shenanigans.

The draw for the quarterfinals was supposed to take place at 16:00 BST, but a “minor technical glitch” that turned into a full-blown IT/engineering problem delayed proceedings for almost two hours. These sorts of things happen of course, and can be easily forgiven or ignored in isolation. But this is the latest in a series of controversies, and that’s not a good look for anyone — that Manchester United ended up with the easiest draw also isn’t helping the public perception, which needs no additional urging to look for conspiracies.

As it stands, Chelsea will face Bournemouth the week of December 18 (exact date to be decided later). With four of the current top five in the league in the bucket for the draw, there was always a good chance Chelsea would end up facing a top team, so in that sense, this draw is very good. Another home game for which to rotate in the kids and the backups!

The League Cup quarterfinal draw in full:

Chelsea vs. AFC Bournemouth
Arsenal vs. West Ham United
Leicester City vs. Manchester City
Bristol City vs. Manchester United