The Blues’ focus switches back to the League Cup this evening, as we take on Cardiff City in the quarter-finals. Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton look ahead to the Blues’ 25th appearance at this stage of the competition.
It has been more than six years since Chelsea were last in action in the Welsh capital. Our last visit to the Cardiff City Stadium occured in March 2019 and the Blues were able to record a dramatic – and somewhat controversial – 2-1 victory that left Neil Warnock seething.
Of course, happy Carabao Cup memories have been made in Cardiff, as it was in the city’s Principality Stadium, then known as the Millennium Stadium, that we defeated Liverpool in the 2005 final and Arsenal in the 2007 final.
Cardiff, meanwhile, lost the 2012 Carabao Cup final to Liverpool on penalties but remain the only non-English club to have claimed the FA Cup, beating the Gunners in 1927.
On Saturday, the Bluebirds, currently top of League One, edged a seven-goal thriller at home to struggling Doncaster Rovers. Chelsea defeated Everton 2-0 the same day, which left us fourth in the Premier League.
The world champions are one of seven top-flight sides still in the hunt for English football’s first silverware of the season.
We have progressed to the last four from 16 of our previous 24 Carabao Cup quarter-final appearances. The Blues have bowed out of the last eight on eight occasions, but never to a lower-league club.
Victory would deliver Chelsea’s sixth straight win over Cardiff and our 63rd major semi-final, the 17th in the League Cup.
Route to the quarter-finals
Chelsea
Third round | Lincoln City (A) | 2-1
Fourth round | Wolverhampton Wanderers (A) | 4-3
Cardiff City
First round | Swindon Town (H) | 2-1
Second round | Cheltenham Town (H) | 3-0
Third round | Burnley (A) | 2-1
Fourth round | Wrexham (A) | 2-1
Chelsea team news
Enzo Maresca plans to rotate his side at the Cardiff City Stadium in an attempt to manage his squad through a busy schedule – and the Italian confirmed Cole Palmer will not be involved after recently returning from injury.
‘We have a number of players that need to be protected,’ our head coach explained in his pre-match press conference. ‘The target is to protect them and manage them.
‘Cole is one of the players who deserves to be protected right now. In this moment, he’s not available to play two games in three days. So he won’t be available for this game, but should be fine for the weekend.
‘We’re going to make some changes. We’ll see how many, but for sure, we have players who in the last 12, 13 days, they’ve played five games. So they need to probably recover energy.’
Marc Cucurella will not be involved as he serves a one-game Carabao Cup ban after picking up two yellow cards in this competition.
The history
Chelsea have contested 24 League Cup quarter-final matches since 1964; the first of which needed a replay to see off lower league Workington 2-0.
That was the first of five quarter-final fixtures played en route to the Blues lifting the trophy. The others were against Ipswich Town (2-2 and then 4-1 on penalties in 1997/98), Fulham (1-0 in 2004/05), Newcastle United (1-0 in 2006/07) and most recently Derby County (3-1 in 2014/15)
The Blues have progressed from each of our past five December quarter-finals: Derby in 2014/15, Bournemouth in 2017/18 and 2018/19, Brentford in 2021/22 and Newcastle in 2023/24.
Chelsea and Cardiff have met on two previous occasions in the League Cup. In 1980, the Welsh side won 2-1 on aggregate over two legs, and in the third round in 1986, a single tie resulted in the same scoreline.
Know this…
Chelsea have not lost a League Cup tie to a lower-league side since Burnley prevailed on penalties in the fourth round on 12 November 2008.
Coincidentally, Cardiff beat the Clarets, now a Premier League team, in round three of this season’s competition.
Chelsea have already faced League One hosts in this campaign, defeating Lincoln City 2-1 in September.
The Bluebirds have recorded 52 shots on goal in this competition, 11 more than the closest rival.
Each of the Londoners’ five successful League Cup campaigns featured a last-eight match away from home.
The Blues’ record win in this competition remains the 7-0 away to fourth-tier Doncaster Rovers on 16 November 1960, in which Frank Blunstone, Peter Brabrook and Bobby Tambling all netted twice.
Cardiff boss Brian Barry-Murphy succeeded Enzo Maresca as Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad manager between 2021 and 2024, with Cole Palmer his star player.
Carabao Cup regulations
The winners of this quarter-final will be one tie away from contesting the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on 22 March.
Two cautions in this competition lead to a one-game ban. Yellow cards and suspensions apply only to this competition; red card bans are served across all domestic fronts.
Cucurella is suspended after being cautioned twice for Chelsea. Enzo Fernandez, Tyrique George, Filip Jorgensen, Andrey Santos and Estevao Willian would miss the next match in this competition if booked.
There is no VAR at this stage of the Carabao Cup. Extra time is not used to decide ties until the semi-finals. Until then, in the event of scores being level after second-half stoppage time, the outcome will be decided by penalties.
The Londoners’ most recent shoot-out was a 4-2 success during a League Cup quarter-final against Newcastle in December 2023.
