Following a poor night on Teesside a fortnight ago, Chelsea must overcome a 1-0 deficit in their quest to reach the Carabao Cup final in this semi-final second leg. The Blues did at least bounce back with a 1-0 win over Fulham in the West London derby following their last meeting with Middlesbrough. Nonetheless, Chelsea have scored only once from their last 34 shots, a concerning trend considering they’ll need a handicap-busting victory to progress in 90 minutes.
Despite their precarious position in the tie, Chelsea remain hot favourites to become only the third side to reach ten League Cup finals. History suggests this won’t be straightforward despite the gulf in club stature, as Chelsea have failed to progress from two of their last four League Cup semi-finals when failing to win the first leg, whilst both of their successes required extra time to see them over the line.
Travelling south are Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough, followed in tow by 4,300 fans who dare to dream of a first Wembley visit since losing the play-off final back in 2015. After grinding out a narrow advantage in the first leg, Middlesbrough posted a stunning 3-1 win away to Millwall before returning home to play out an unfortunate 1-1 draw against lowly Rotherham, albeit with a potential winner controversially ruled out late in the day.
Middlesbrough will hope to channel the spirit of the side that defeated Arsenal’s invincibles 1-0 in the semi-final first leg in the 2003/04 season before triumphing 3-1 on aggregate on the way to lifting what remains their only major silverware. Granted, Middlesbrough aren’t quite the side they were 20 years ago, yet they do at least head here on the back of some positive away form (W4, L1) despite keeping just one clean sheet across those games.
Players to watch: Chelsea’s Cole Palmer came under fire for his missed chances in the first leg, but he’ll hope to make the difference as he has when netting the winner with three of his last four goals. He comes up against his former Manchester City academy teammate and Boro’s in-demand midfielder Morgan Rogers, who is the League Cup’s joint top-scorer (G4).
Hot stat: Chelsea have scored eight goals and conceded only one in three home domestic cup games against lower league opponents this season (W3).
