Chelsea commence their FA Cup campaign, with a third round tie against Morecambe, a club currently residing in League Two, which is the fourth tier of the FA system. A victory here, which is pretty much certain, would extend an impressive streak: the Blues have reached every fourth round of this competition since 1999.
Last season they went to the final, where they fell to cross-town rival Arsenal. Let’s take a look at the team news for this one.
Chelsea vs Morecambe (FA Cup 3rd Round) FYIs
Kickoff: Sun. Jan 10, 1:30pm Stamford Bridge
Chelsea Starting XI Prediction: go here
Series history: first meeting
Streaming: BBC website, iPlayer, ESPN+
Midfielder N’Golo Kante is out with a “minor hamstring injury” and he is also guaranteed to miss the next match as well, given the suspension he will be serving. Kante picked up his fifth booking of the season in the blowout loss to Manchester City, and that means he’s ineligible vs. Fulham.
The overall theme of the Chelsea team news here though is squad rotation. It is inevitable that manager Frank Lampard will rest his regulars and give his reserves major minutes in this one. That said, the Blues cannot take this match too lightly, as Morecambe are on a good run of form.
They have won four out of their last five games as they seek promotion to League 1.
Prediction: Chelsea 4, Morecambe 0
I mean, c’mon, their nickname is the Shrimps, literally. And they are certainly the minnows in this matchup, so don’t expect it to be close.
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.