Can the Championship club gain a first-leg advantage on home soil? Or will the Premier League outfit flex their muscles?
On Tuesday evening, Middlesbrough and Chelsea will meet at the Riverside Stadium for the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final showdown.
Some save from Tom Glover 👏 #UTB pic.twitter.com/hk5AN4jOCm— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) January 8, 2024
Some save from Tom Glover 👏 #UTB pic.twitter.com/hk5AN4jOCm
Both sides were in FA Cup action at the weekend, with Boro losing 1-0 to Aston Villa and Chelsea thrashing Preston North End 4-0.
Saturday’s defeat means that Middlesbrough have now lost three of their last four matches across all competitions, suffering league losses against Rotherham United and Coventry City.
As a result, Michael Carrick’s side find themselves 12th in the Championship table, although they remain just four points shy of the play-off places.
Middlesbrough kicked off their EFL Cup campaign with a 3-2 victory over Huddersfield before seeing off Bolton Wanderers, Bradford City and Exter City.
Having defeated Port Vale 3-0 in the quarter-finals, Boro will be hopeful of putting up a decent fight against Premier League opposition.
Thanks to Saturday’s thrashing of Preston, Chelsea head into the semi-finals on a three-game winning streak across all competitions.
After claiming a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace, the Blues made it back-to-back Premier League triumphs with a 3-2 win against Luton Town before the turn of the year.
Still, Mauricio Pochettino’s side remain 10th in the Premier League standings – 12 points outside the top four – having endured a wildly inconsistent campaign up to now.
That said, Chelsea will be confident of notching a first-leg advantage on Tuesday, having won five of their previous six games across all competitions.
Head-to-head: Thanks to a 2-0 victory in the FA Cup back in 2022, Chelsea have won each of their last nine meetings with Middlesbrough.
When you look at the bigger picture, Boro have managed to win just two of their previous 22 matches against the Blues across all competitions.
Team news: The hosts are missing multiple players due to injury, including Matt Crooks, Seny Dieng, Marcuss Forss, Hayden Hackney, Paddy McNair, Lewis O’Brien and Tom Smith.
On the flip side, Chelsea’s injury list contains Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Marc Cucurella, Romeo Lavia, Robert Sanchez, Ben Chilwell, Lesley Ugochukwu and Trevoh Chalobah.
Although Chelsea have experienced an inconsistent season, the Premier League giants shouldn’t struggle to overcome second-tier Boro.
Forebet predicts that Chelea will score over 1.5 goals and keep a clean sheet on their way to winning the first leg.