The football does not stop anytime soon as the League Cup returns this week, with only eight teams remaining to battle it out and decide who will proceed into the semi-final of the tournament.
We preview two of the stand-out fixtures below.
Chelsea v Newcastle: Tuesday 19:45
It is looking like this domestic cup competition is the highest chance both Chelsea and Newcastle will have to secure some silverware this season, so this is undoubtedly the headline game of the round. Chelsea come into this game off the back of a 2-0 victory against Blackburn in the previous round, with Newcastle managing to dispatch Man United 3-0 to secure their place in the quarters. Chelsea are 7/10 favourites to win this fixture, with Newcastle at 29/10.
Both teams are suffering with injuries following the weekend’s Premier League fixtures, so it will be interesting to see which starting XIs that Mauricio Pochettino and Eddie Howe opt for to give themselves the best chances of progressing through to the semi-finals. Most notably, we saw Christopher Nkunku grace the bench in their Saturday fixture for the first time since his signing back in December last year, so we could see him step onto the pitch for the first time in the Chelsea shirt against Newcastle and is 2/1 to hit the back of the net on his Stamford Bridge debut. Reece James headlines the injury list for Chelsea, with other notable missing players such as Wesley Fofana, Ben Chilwell, Romeo Lavia, Noni Madueke, and several others.
It is no secret that Chelsea have been struggling to secure points in the Premier League, with just 22 points in 17 games so far this season, putting them tenth in the current standings ahead of next weekend’s fixtures. Given that their Premier League title hopes have vanished, we can expect a big showing from them against Newcastle on Tuesday, with Armando Broja and Nicolas Jackson both 13/8 to score, looking to help their team through the next stage of the competition.
Newcastle lost both Fabian Schar and Joelinton to injury on Saturday so they get added to the list of Harvey Barnes, Sandro Tonali, Jacob Murphy, Nick Pope, Elliot Anderson, and Joe Willock, who will all miss this upcoming game. It’ll be the likes of Callum Wilson (2/1) and Alexander Isak (9/4) to pick up the slack and score on Tuesday. Newcastle had a slight dip in form in the Premier League of recent but will be searching for the silverware and will not let an away game at Chelsea dishearten them.
Liverpool v West Ham: Wednesday 20:00
With 11 points separating them domestically, Liverpool take on West Ham in another all-Premier League clash in the quarter final of the Carabao Cup. Liverpool got the better of Bournemouth in a 2-1 victory in the previous stage, meanwhile West Ham quite emphatically dispatched Premier League frontrunners, Arsenal, 3-1.
The two sides have already faced off at Anfield this season, with the Reds getting the better of the Hammers 3-1, and are 7/20 favourites to do the same again. The Christmas period can get congested due to the multitude of competitions happening simultaneously, and both of teams have felt this in full effect, with both teams playing five games already since the start of December. They both have four games yet to play in the next fortnight, so depth of squad and fitness is of utmost importance going into this fixture.
Jurgen Klopp needs to decide where he wants to turn his attention, sitting at second in the Premier League behind Arsenal who they take on this weekend and could see them either retake top spot, or fall four points short of the Gunners. Likewise, West Ham are hunting down that number five spot in the Premier League to secure Champions League football next year, so will we see both teams push this competition to the backburner? West Ham have United this weekend in the Premier League, with Arsenal the following week so this is going to be a real test as they head to Anfield. They are 5/1 to progress into the semi-finals.
The usual suspects will be looking to net for the Reds, with Mohamed Salah odds-on at 17/20, meanwhile Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo are both 6/5. Jarrod Bowen leads the market for West Ham at 13/5 to score anytime, with Divin Mubama at 3/1 to hit the back of the net.
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