PREVIEW: Cardiff City host Chelsea in huge quarter-final clash

Cardiff City face Chelsea in a sold out Carabao Cup quarter-final at the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday night.

The Bluebirds are in impressive form in League One under Brian Barry-Murphy, having only lost four matches which sees them top of the table.

Cardiff are unbeaten in their last three games after wins over Doncaster Rovers, Stevenage, and Huddersfield Town, so will enter tomorrow night’s clash with some confidence despite the challenge of facing one of the best teams in the country.

They are also unbeaten in their last three League Cup matches against Chelsea, with two wins at old home ground Ninian Park and a draw at Stamford Bridge.

Last time the faced Chelsea at home in the League Cup was October 28^th, 1986 where they hosts ran out as 2-1 victors.

They also faced the blues in August and September 1980 where they won the home leg 1-0 and drew reverse fixture 1-1.

The Bluebirds are hoping to reach their first semi-final of this competition since finishing as runners up to Liverpool in 2012.

They beat Burnley, Wrexham, Swindon Town and Cheltenham to reach this quarter-final.

Cardiff City will be without Gabriel Osho and Ollie Tanner through injury, and notably will not be allowed to field Chelsea loanee Omari Kellyman, despite a request from the club to permit him to play.

Meanwhile, Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea travel to the Welsh capital after returning to winning ways in the Premier League, having beaten Everton 2-0 at Stamford Bridge at the weekend.

Chelsea had suffered a minor slump since their 3-0 win over Barcelona in the Champions League last month, going four games without a win in all competitions until beating the Toffees.

That run included draws against Arsenal and Bournemouth along with losses to Leeds United and Atalanta.

Alas, the Blues sit in fourth in the Premier League table, with eight wins, four draws and four losses to their name.

As for the Carabao Cup, they head into the clash against Cardiff with wins over Lincoln City and Wolverhampton Wanderers thus far.

Chelsea will be without Liam Delap, Romeo Lavia, Dário Essugo, and Levi Colwill due to injuries.

The match will kick off at 20:00 GMT on Tuesday December 16th, and will be live on Sky Sports Main Event.

Predicted line-ups

CAR: Trott; Ng, Fish, Chambers, Bagan; Wintle, Robertson, Turnbull; Ashford, Salech, J. Colwill