Happy EFL Cup quarterfinal Wednesday everybody! We hope you enjoyed the action yesterday. Midweek brings two more quarterfinals, a North London derby (that we previewed at this link) and AFC Bournemouth at Chelsea FC. Let’s preview, starting with an assessment of the fitness situation for both sides.
Maurizio Sarri has four players with varying degrees of fitness concern: Gary Cahill, Alvaro Morata, Victor Moses and ?Eden Hazard. All four will likely not be risked here, especially with the festive period fixture congestion coming now. Sarri has shown a propensity to rotate his sides and play his bench in both Europa League and League Cup matches this season, so we don’t expect that to change here.
On the other sideline, manager Eddie Howe may do some squad rotation himself. The Cherries will be without the services of the injured Lewis Cook, Dan Gosling and Adam Smith.
The Bank Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction (4-3-3) vs Vidi
Attack: Callum Hudson-Odoi, Olivier Giroud, Pedro
Midfield: Ross Barkley, Cesc Fabregas, Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Defense: Davide Zappacosta, Ethan Ampadu, Andreas Christensen, Emerson Palmieri
Goalkeeper: Willy Caballero
Chelsea FC vs AFC Bournemouth EFL Cup FYIs
Kickoff: 7:45 BST, Wednesday December 19, Stamford Bridge
Odds via SportPesa: Chelsea 5/18, Draw 17/4, Bournemouth 33/4
Prediction: Chelsea 2, Bournemouth 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.