Capital One Cup - Chelsea vs Liverpool

The first leg a week before saw the sides negotiate a rather one-sided 1-1 draw at Anfield. Liverpool started the match well on top – a position they would occupy for the remainder of the evening's proceedings. Nevertheless, it was the visitors who took the lead on the night, when Eden Hazard was brought down in the box by Emre Can, prompting referee Martin Atkinson to point to the spot. The Belgian stepped up, and as expected, slotted home without doubt. Even still, the Reds were no less inspired, dominating possession, albeit without really making inroads respecting the Chelsea goal. That would change in the second half however, when Raheem Sterling struck a brilliant goal with just over a half an hour remaining to draw his side level. Brendan Rodgers' men would carve out a number more chances before the night was out, but all went begging, sending the game to a final stalemate, and setting up an intriguing second leg at the Bridge come Tuesday evening.










The last occasion the sides contested this fixture in this competition was in 2011, in what turned out to be a miserable night for the Blues. Maxi Rodriguez scored on 57 minutes to put the guests in front after a missed penalty from Andy Carroll in the first half, before Martin Kelly headed in at the far-post 5 minutes later off a Craig Bellamy free-kick to double the Reds' lead, and send the Londoners into further dejection, and pile even more pressure on faltering boss André Villas-Boas.










Michael Oliver, who last officiated for Chelsea in their 2-0 Boxing Day victory over West Ham United at Stamford Bridge and for Liverpool in their 2-all draw against Arsenal at Anfield the weekend before, has been appointed referee for Tuesday's tie.





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Right, so the first of 2 massive games this week. Was confident leaving Anfield last week that we'd be able to get the job done handily at the Bridge but after yesterday's trainwreck I'm not so sure at this point. With our full first team out it'll be a much different creature to yesterday, but even still Liverpool can cause us problems regardless and very likely will do. Must be at our best come Tuesday cause they'll be well up for it.

Great preview Shed!

I think we'll do just enough to sneak through.

Twas a short one to save time. The City one'll be better

Honestly, If we run our first team out against Liverpool and City, we should be ok. It's international break after that, no?

Also hopefully Cuadrado will has signed by then, allowing more rotation.

We have to bounce back, though.

Bottom line is, two wins in the next 7 days and we're 8 points clear at the top of this league going into February and in a Wembley cup final. If that doesn't motivate these players, A.) nothing ever will, and B.) maybe we don't deserve either anyway.

Indeed.

Given we've got the lead on away goals and home ground advantage, do we think mou will play for a 0-0 or will he go out and try score one before shutting up shop?

Away goals don't count, mate.

It's all sqaure.

Well they count after ET, but the point still stands. Surely not even Mou would look to play for a
0-0 over 120 minutes...

No, We're at home, surely we'll attack.

Shed wrote:Bottom line is, two wins in the next 7 days and we're 8 points clear at the top of this league going into February and in a Wembley cup final. If that doesn't motivate these players, A.) nothing ever will, and B.) maybe we don't deserve either anyway.

These are the most important games of our season that can allow us to put one hand on each trophy and we just had our most humiliating loss in.. I don't remember how much. In football anything can happen, but I believe that the players will be motivated and have what is needed to come out winners out of these.


Didn't know about the away rule, but I still consider a draw away from home in a two legged affair a favourable result.

Daniel Sturridge could make Liverpool return against Chelsea in Capital One Cup semi-final showdown:
Daniel Sturridge could make a shock return to action for Liverpool in their semi-final clash against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night, having recently returned to full training after months of injury frustration
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2926820/Daniel-Sturridge-line-make-Liverpool-return-against-Chelsea-Capital-One-Cup-semi-final-Stamford-Bridge.html

'He had his training session with the team yesterday, he trained very well,' manager Brendan Rodgers said.

'That was as comfortable as he has looked. I thought he looked back to normal. 'We will see how he feels today, but if he is not ready for tomorrow we won't risk it.'

'He has been out a long time and we need to make sure that he is ready and feels ready.'

Shed wrote:
The match kicks off at 1745 GMT

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Shed? Dead? Line-ups? Other infos?

False alarm the match is at 19:45 GMT.

Nice try

CHELSEA XI: Courtois; Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry (c), Filipe Luis; Matic, Fabregas; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Diego Costa

Zouma in for Cahill. Interesting.

LIVERPOOL XI: Mignolet, Can, Škrtel, Sakho, Lucas, Henderson, Moreno, Marković, Gerrard, Coutinho, Sterling

No Sturridge

SUBS: Cech, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Ake, Ramires, Remy, Drogba


SUBS: Ward, Johnson, Lovren, Lambert, Lallana, Allen, Balotelli

How are you feeling about this one, Shed?

And again Schurrle not in the squad. Salah either.

Katy Perry wrote:How are you feeling about this one, Shed?

More apprehensive than I should be but I think we'll just about pull it out.