PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: ARSENAL V CHELSEA ========================================= After a short gap between games and a short journey across London, Chelsea play our second domestic cup tie of the season. Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton turn their attention quickly from league to League Cup… TALKING POINTS You have to go back to the 1980s for the kind of away support Chelsea will have at Emirates Stadium tonight. There will be 9,000 Blues in north London for this Capital One Cup tie, the kind of numbers that regularly swelled the old Clock End (and elsewhere) at Highbury in the halcyon days of Osgood, Dixon and co. It is possibly our largest away contingent in this competition outside a final or semi since the one that watched Chelsea beat Spurs 3-0 at White Hart Lane in January 1991. With the problematic scheduling of this game - so soon after Chelseas epic clash with title rivals Manchester City - the fan culture flashback will be as important to some as the match itself. As we pointed out in the Swindon Town Pre-Match Briefing, the Football League made a big fuss when the Blues fielded a weakened side against the Robins - 50 years ago. The organisers can have no grounds for complaint this time. It would be too risky fielding the same players twice in 50 hours and Jose Mourinho initially considered fielding a youth team. Instead, Chelseas travelling fans can expect to see a squad comprising players who have appeared less regularly so far this season, but one bristling with quality and potential nonetheless. The hosts should also be commended for their sensible pricing policy. Arsene Wenger has always treated this tournament as a chance to blood youngsters and did so in the previous round match at West Bromwich Albion. Will it be trick or treat for his kids tonight? KEY STAT Jose Mourinho is celebrating his 200th game in charge of Chelsea tonight. Mourinho is only the eighth Chelsea manager to have reached the double century milestone and his win percentage far outstrips any rival. He has faced Wengers Arsenal on eight occasions in the league, League Cup and Community Shield. Four ended in Chelsea wins, four were drawn. He now seeks a victory that would keep the cleaners out of the Emirates trophy cupboard until May at the earliest. The two adversaries are the only previous winners of the Premier League still currently managing in Englands top flight. There is little that can be extracted from tonights game and applied to the race for the title however. The last home side to beat Chelsea in this competition in normal time were Aston Villa, way back in December 2003; John Terry and Frank Lampard both featured. The Blues were Londons first winners of this competition in 1964/65, and have raised it again three times since. Arsenal have won it twice. The two rivals presently sit first and second in the Premier League. The Blues have endured a tougher league schedule to date than our north London rivals - the average position of Chelseas opponents has been 10th, compared to the Gunners 15th. The toughest sides Arsenal have faced have been Spurs - a derby where form amounts to little more than a c.v. - and Dortmund, which did not go well. Tonights fourth-round tie might be considered a wonderful sideshow to the main domestic business. However, if Wenger aims to avoid the constant jibes about his trophy-less years this could be his easiest route to silverware. He was appointed manager at Highbury on 30 September 1996 (6,238 days ago). His last trophy won was the FA Cup, 3,083 days ago on 21 May 2005. After tonight the league leaders face Liverpool at home, then successive away trips to Dortmund (in the Champions League) and Old Trafford before hosting Southampton. Chelsea travel to Newcastle on Saturday then host Schalke and West Bromwich Albion before a trip to West Ham. Our last and next Champions League opponents Schalke lost again at home at the weekend, to high-flying Dortmund (the Ruhr derby). Jens Keller fielded a similar side to the one we took apart a week ago in the Veltins Arena. Teenager Max Meyer scored for the hosts but Dortmund won 3-1 - one better than their result in north London this time last week. Of Group Es other sides, Basel drew 0-0 at Zürich and Steaua Buchurest won 2-1 at struggling Braşov. KEY TWEET Who would you like to see start for Chelsea this evening? Arsenals shoot-out at West Brom in the last round was the 17th in their history. Only Brentford (22), Chelsea (19) and Bournemouth (18) have contested more. If the scores are level after 90 minutes, 30 minutes extra time will be played. If there is still no winner the tie will be decided on penalties. Capital One Cup fourth round fixtures Tonight Arsenal v Chelsea 7.45pm - Sky Sports Birmingham v Stoke 7.45pm Burnley v West Ham 7.45pm Leicester v Fulham 7.45pm Manchester United v Norwich 7.45pm Wednesday Newcastle v Manchester City 7.45pm - Sky Sports Tottenham v Hull 7.45pm Wednesday 6 November Sunderland v Southampton 7.45pm Read more at chelseafc/prematch-briefing4/match/72165
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 12:36:07 +0000