England - Capital One Cup
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Played
September 25, 2012 7:45 PM BST
Stamford Bridge — London
Referee:‬ M. Oliver‎
Attendance:‬ 32569‎
 
4′ Gary Cahill
 
8′ Ryan Bertrand
 
17′ Juan Mata
 
53′ (PG) Oriol Romeu
 
58′ Fernando Torres
 
71′ Victor Moses
 

Chelsea - Wolves Preview: Blues begin campaign in search of fifth League Cup triumph

Roberto Di Matteo could make several changes in order to give his fringe players a chance to impress for the visit of the Championship club to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday

By Oliver Platt

More On :  Chelsea FC, Wolves, Chelsea FC vs Wolves
EPL - Chelsea v Wolverhampton Wanderers, John Terry
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  PROBABLE LINEUPS

 CHELSEA

Turnbull
Azpilicueta, Cahill, Luiz, Bertrand
Romeu, Mikel
Moses, Piazon, Marin
Torres
WOLVES

Ikeme
Stearman, Berra, Johnson, Ward
Peszko, Henry, Doumbia, Sako
Ebanks-Blake, Doyle

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo is likely to make several changes to his team ahead of their match against Arsenal on Saturday.

Cesar Azpilicueta, Victor Moses, Marko Marin and Lucas Piazon could all be in line for their first starts for the club. Azpilicueta is likely to relieve Branislav Ivanovic of his right-back duties to make his first appearance since joining the Blues, while Moses has made two substitute appearances in the Premier League.

Piazon has trained with the first-team squad after impressing during pre-season, while Marin (hamstring) has been missing through injury but returned to action for the Under-21 team against Liverpool on September 14.

John Terry was rested against Stoke City and is unlikely to play again here, so Gary Cahill and David Luiz should continue at centre-back. Ryan Bertrand could come in for Ashley Cole and Ross Turnbull may be handed an opportunity in goal.

Oriol Romeu is another such fringe player in contention to start, but Daniel Sturridge (hamstring) may not be risked after injury, so Fernando Torres is likely to continue in attack.

Wolves could name an unchanged team after beating Peterborough away from home on Saturday. Razak Boukhari will push Slawomir Peszko for his place on the wing, while Bjorn Sigurdarson scored his first goal for the club at London Road and may be in contention to replace Sylvan Ebanks-Blake or Kevin Doyle.

  DID YOU KNOW?
  • Chelsea have won the League Cup four times in their history, with their last victory coming in the 2006-07 season.
  • The Blues beat Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium on that occasion thanks to two goals from Didier Drogba (pictured right), who cancelled out Theo Walcott's opening strike.
  • Petr Cech, John Terry and Frank Lampard are the only players that started that game that remain at Stamford Bridge today, while Ashley Cole and John Obi Mikel were on the bench.
  • Drogba also scored when Chelsea won the trophy in the 2004-05 season. Extra-time goals from the Ivorian and Mateja Kezman secured a 3-2 victory for then-manager Jose Mourinho.
  • Wolves suffered two defeats against Chelsea as they were relegated from the Premier League last season, being beaten 2-1 at Molineux and 3-0 at Stamford Bridge.
  • The Black Country club sit in fifth place in the Championship having won four of their opening seven matches under new manager Stale Solbakken.
  • Solbakken's success as manager of HamKam in Norway earned him the jobs at Copenhagen and Koln, at the latter of which he took charge of stars such as Lukas Podolski.
  • The 44-year-old played for Wimbledon in the 1997-98 season but despite an impressive start to life in England he left the club having made just six appearances after falling out with manager Joe Kinnear.

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  • Chelsea FC 3-0 Wolves
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Head to Head
England - Capital One Cup ‎(CCUP)‎ Sep 25, 2012 Chelsea FC 6 - Wolves 0
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England - Premier League ‎(EPL)‎ Jan 2, 2012 Wolves 1 - Chelsea FC 2
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England - Premier League ‎(EPL)‎ Nov 26, 2011 Chelsea FC 3 - Wolves 0
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England - Premier League ‎(EPL)‎ Jan 5, 2011 Wolves 1 - Chelsea FC 0
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England - Premier League ‎(EPL)‎ Oct 23, 2010 Chelsea FC 2 - Wolves 0
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Last Five Matches
Chelsea FC
May 19, 2013Chelsea FC 2 - Everton 1EPL
May 15, 2013Benfica 1 - Chelsea FC 2EL
May 11, 2013Aston Villa 1 - Chelsea FC 2EPL
May 8, 2013Chelsea FC 2 - Tottenham 2EPL
May 5, 2013Man Utd. 0 - Chelsea FC 1EPL
Wolves
May 4, 2013Brighton 2 - Wolves 0ENG2
Apr 27, 2013Wolves 1 - Burnley 2ENG2
Apr 20, 2013Charlton 2 - Wolves 1ENG2
Apr 16, 2013Wolves 1 - Hull 0ENG2
Apr 13, 2013Wolves 1 - Huddersfield Town 3ENG2
Odds
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Returns: Wolves £5010.00 Bet365 Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200
Team News
Available Squads
22Ross TurnbullGoalkeeper
28César AzpilicuetaDefender
24Gary CahillDefender
26John TerryDefender
34Ryan BertrandDefender
7RamiresMidfielder
6Oriol RomeuMidfielder
13Victor MosesMidfielder
9Fernando TorresStriker
-Lucas PiazonStriker
10Juan MataStriker
40Henrique HilárioGoalkeeper
4David LuizDefender
19Paulo FerreiraDefender
17Eden HazardMidfielder
12John Obi MikelMidfielder
21Marko MarinMidfielder
11OscarMidfielder
31Dorus De VriesGoalkeeper
5Richard StearmanDefender
23Ronald ZubarDefender
39Danny BatthDefender
-Georg MargreitterDefender
15Slawomir PeszkoMidfielder
12Stephen HuntMidfielder
7Razak BoukariStriker
37David DavisMidfielder
4David EdwardsMidfielder
-Björn Bergmann SigurðarsonStriker
30Carl IkemeGoalkeeper
32Kevin FoleyDefender
-Eggert JonssonMidfielder
37Anthony FordeMidfielder
-Jack PriceMidfielder
-Zeli IsmailMidfielder
-Frank NoubleStriker
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