How should Chelsea line up against Manchester City in the League Cup?

Last time Chelsea had a meaningless game (i.e. last week), Graham Potter opted to not only not play any fresh Academy youth, he didn’t even put any on the bench. That’ll show ‘em! Here’s a chance to do better.

Now, this game isn’t quite as meaningless as that one was: a place in the fourth round of the League Cup is on the line after all. It may be the lowest priority competition in any given season, but there is still a trophy up for grabs at the end. And for us it might be the most realistic one. We made the final last season and in 2019 as well (only to lose on penalties both times).

This competition, especially in its early rounds, does traditionally see fringe and youth players take center stage, and we might be setting up from something similar with the likes of Omari Hutchinson, Lewis Hall, or Bashir Humphreys. None of the three were involved in the U21s’ 3-0 win over Spurs last night.

The rest of the injury situation appears to be the same as before, with Reece James (knee), Ben Chilwell (hamstring), N’Golo Kanté (hamstring), Wesley Fofana (knee), Kepa Arrizabalaga (foot), and Carney Chukwuemeka (hamstring) ruled out, while Mateo Kovačić and Kalidou Koulibaly were only fit enough for the bench midweek.

Choose wisely.

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