Chelsea welcome rivals Manchester United to Stamford Bridge for their Carabao Cup Round of 16 tie on Wednesday night looking to make it eight successive wins in all competitions after their impressive 4-2 away win against Burnley last Sunday.
The Blues thrashed lower league outfit Grimsby Town 7-1 in the third round of the Carabao Cup last month to advance to the next round while Manchester United had to labour past Rochdale, beating them 5-3 on penalties to reach the Last 16 stage of the competition.
Manchester United have had a poor start to the season with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s job coming into question in recent months but United have found some form of late and beat Norwich City 3-1 away last Sunday.
The two clubs faced each other On the opening day of the Premier League season, Manchester United ran riot over Chelsea at Old Trafford winning the game 4-0 despite an encouraging display from Chelsea on the day.
Chelsea have a host of injuries, with N’Golo Kante, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger, and Ross Barkley all out of injured and unlikely to feature.Ruben Loftus-Cheek is also a long term casualty after suffering an injury at the end of last season.
Christian Pulisic, Tammy Abraham & Mason Mount could all be rested with Lampard possessing a number of options up front. Michy Batshuayi, Pedro and Callum Hudson-Odoi are likely to feature in the starting eleven.
Lampard has fewer options in center defense and center midfield due to injuries so Lampard might stick with the same personnel against United.
Reece James and Emerson are likely to replace Azplilicueta and Alonso at right back and left-back respectively.
Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has been ruled out of action till December, while the likes of Diogo Dalot, Axel Tuanzebe, Nemanja Matic and Luke Shaw are also sidelined.
Solskjaer is likely to start with three-man backline due to his lack of options in midfield
Sergio Romero is will replace De Gea who has not travelled with the squad to London between the sticks for Manchester United. A three-man backline comprising of Phil Jones, Harry Maguire and Marcos Rojo is likely to start at Stamford Bridge, while Aaron Wan-Bissaka and youngster Brandon Williams will act as the two wing-backs.
Jesse Lingard is expected to return to the side, operating in the middle behind the two strikers who are likely to be Martial and Rashford.
Chelsea Lineup (4-2-3-1): Caballero; James, Zouma, Tomori, Emerson; Jorginho, Kovacic; Hudson-Odoi, Pedro, Pulisic; Batshuayi
Manchester United Lineup (3-4-1-2): Romero; Jones, Maguire, Rojo; Wan-Bissaka, McTominay, Fred, Williams; Lingard; Rashford, Martial
