What a bummer for Kepa Arrizabalaga, it appears his time at Chelsea is about to run out. The world’s most expensive goalkeeper (okay, don’t feel too bad for him) will get the drop on Wednesday night, in favor of Willy Caballero, and reports indicate that Stamford Bridge are close to finalizing their deal that will bring in Rennes shotstopper Edouard Mendy to help out their difficult situation in goal.
Caballero will get the call for the third round League Cup clash on Wednesday night, at home against Barnsley FC. Coming off the heels of a dismal showing at home against Liverpool, the Blues will look to reset and regroup.
They will do so without half of their summer signings, who have yet to feature for them this season. The Blues will also approach this match with a starting XI that features only a couple first team players, and mostly reserves, but that should still be plenty to get them past the Tykes here and into the next round, where they will face the Tottenham Hotspur-Leyton Orient winner.
I absolutely love this sentence from the Barnsley official website, in their match preview article on this game:
“The gap between the haves and the have-nots has only increased in the last dozen years, particularly in terms of finances where even were our hosts on Wednesday to put out a so-called ‘second string’ it would no doubt contain a plethora of high-quality, international footballers, such is the strength of the English top flight.”
Telling it like it is, no doubt!
Chelsea Starting XI Prediction vs Barnsley FC (League Cup Third Round)
Caballero; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Tomori, Emerson; Jorginho, Barkley, Loftus-Cheek; Havertz, Abraham, Hudson-Odoi
Chelsea vs Barnsley FC EFL Cup 3rd Round FYIs
Kick: 8:15 pm, Wednesday, September 23, 2020, Stamford Bridge
Team news for both sides: go here
Odds: Chelsea win 1/6, Draw 13/2, Barnsley win 16/1
Prediction: Chelsea 3, Barnsley FC 0
Blues second string should be enough to cruise past the Tykes at home.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.