Following last season's Carabao Cup heartbreak, Chelsea will be looking to go one better this time around as they face Man City in the third round of the competition.
After a 0-0 draw in 120 minutes, Chelsea were beaten on penalties by Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final last season, with Kepa missing the decisive penalty. It was a tough defeat for the Blues to take, and they start the competition with another tough task, a trip to Man City.
The two meetings between Chelsea and City last season saw the Blues beaten 1-0 both times. Graham Potter’s side go into this game following a 1-0 defeat to London rivals Arsenal.
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The Blues are expected to rotate, but Carney Chukwuemeka will not be available as he misses out with a hamstring problem. Reece James, Ben Chilwell, N'Golo Kante, Wesley Fofana and Kepa are all guaranteed absentees.
So, how could Chelsea perform against Chelsea on Wednesday night in the Carabao Cup? Let's take a look.
Man City vs Chelsea score simulated
To complete this simulation, we used FIFA 23 and updated the squads with the latest injuries and suspensions.
We predict that City could set up in a 4-3-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: Ortega; Lewis, Dias, Laporte, Gomez; Foden, Rodri, Bernardo; Mahrez, Alvarez, Grealish.
We predict that the visitors could line up in a 3-5-2 formation, with their line-up as follows: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Koulibaly; Loftus-Cheek, Kovacic, Zakaria, Gallagher, Cucurella; Pulisic, Broja.
Chelsea began the game really poor, with the visitors giving up possession too easily and allowing City plenty of chances. Edouard Mendy made a handful of great saves to keep the score level, but despite his efforts, City entered the break with a 1-0 lead.
Rodri stole possession off Conor Gallagher in midfield, allowing the hosts to hit Chelsea on the counterattack. Bernardo Silva burst into the box and was found with a reverse pass from Jack Grealish, and in his stride, the midfielder curled his shot around Mendy to send City into the break 1-0 ahead.
Chelsea's slow start in the first half was ultimately the reason the Blues were behind, but a promising performance after the restart saw Potter's side start to cause problems for the hosts. Armando Broja hit the post as the Blues looked for an equaliser, but it was a substitute who grabbed the equaliser for Chelsea with 10 minutes remaining.
A goal behind and not long to go, Chelsea pressed the hosts high as they looked to force the ball out of City's hands. As Pep Guardiola's side played out the back, some good pressing from substitute Mateo Kovacic won the ball for Chelsea just outside the City box.
The Croatian poked a pass through to Hakim Ziyech, and the substitute powered his shot past Ederson to make it 1-1, meaning the game went to penalties after a draw in 90 minutes. City missed their first spot-kick as Phil Foden missed the target, but three misses in Chelsea's next five saw the Blues crash out of the competition.
Stefan Ortega saved penalties from Jorgino, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Cesar Azpiliceuta, with the latter missing the decisive penalty as the Blues exited the Carabao Cup in the third round.
FIFA 23 predicted score: Man City 1-1 Chelsea (City win 3-2 on penalties)
Here are the full-time match stats:
FIFA 23 predicts that Chelsea could fall to a narrow defeat against Manchester City on Wednesday, with the simulation predicting the Blues to crash out in the third round of the Carabao Cup.
A lacklustre display saw the game go to penalties, and poor misses from Jorginho, Azpilicueta and Aubameyang saw the Blues lose on penalties.
What do you think the final score will be? Let us know in the comments.
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