Juan Mata, David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta: All set to face Swindon
All eyes will be on Juan Mata and David Luiz when Chelsea travel to face Swindon in the Capital One Cup third round on Tuesday.
Spain midfielder Mata and Brazil centre-back Luiz were both omitted from the Blues squad that beat Fulham 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Saturday.
Mata, who has made two starts and one substitute appearance so far this season, has been told he needs to adapt to Jose Mourinho's new style in order to hold down a place in the side.
Luiz has made three starts in the campaign thus far, all ending in defeats for Mourinho's side - the penalty shootout loss to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Super Cup, the 1-0 Premier League defeat at Everton and the 2-1 UEFA Champions League reverse to Basel last week.
The League Cup was the first trophy won by Mourinho in his first spell at Stamford Bridge, and he repeated the achievement two seasons later.
With a vital Premier League derby encounter at Tottenham at lunchtime on Saturday, the Portuguese manager will be looking to make use of his full squad against Mark Cooper's Robins.
The West Country outfit lie 11th in League One following their 3-2 derby win over Bristol City at the weekend.
They reached the last 16 of the Capital One Cup last season, losing 3-2 at home to Aston Villa in the fourth round, and have knocked out Chelsea's west London rivals QPR and also Torquay United in the first two rounds of this season's competition.
Although Swindon are missing their top scorer Ryan Mason due to injury, they are unbeaten at the County Ground for almost seven months.
Swindon
Swindon will be without on-loan Tottenham midfielder Ryan Mason and also Ryan Harley.
In-form Mason has a thigh problem that looks set to rule him out for up to two weeks while former Exeter midfielder Harley has a medial knee ligament problem, leaving manager Mark Cooper rather light on numbers with Aaron Oakley (foot) and Tijane Reis (knee) also out.
His options are boosted, however, by the return of another Spurs loanee, Alex Pritchard, having missed the 3-2 win over Bristol City on Saturday through suspension, but right-back Nathan Byrne will sit out the third game of his three-match ban and Alex Smith's knee injury has ruled him out.
Nile Ranger netted his first league goal for the club with just three minutes remaining of their derby victory and the former Newcastle striker looks set to start once more against Jose Mourinho's men.
Chelsea
Juan Mata and David Luiz are both set to feature for Chelsea.
Blues manager Jose Mourinho has told Mata, who has made two starts this term after being near ever-present in his first two seasons at Chelsea, to prove his worth at the County Ground.
Right-back Cesar Azpilicueta, left-back Ryan Bertrand and midfielder Michael Essien are also in line to start for a Chelsea side with no fitness concerns.
Fernando Torres and Willian could also be involved as Mourinho looks to make full use of his squad.
Previous game's starting line-ups
Team taken from Swindon Town vs Bristol City (Sky Bet League 1) on Saturday 21st September 2013
Team taken from Chelsea vs Fulham (Barclays Premier League) on Saturday 21st September 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment