Head-to-head

Chelsea and Cardiff have been paired twice before in the League Cup, with Cardiff winning on both occasions.

1980/81 | Second round first leg (A) | L 0-1
1980/81 | Second round second leg (H) | D 1-1 (Droy)
1986/87 | Third round (A) | L 2-1 (Jones pen)

Since Cardiff’s victory in 1986, Chelsea have won all five subsequent matches between the sides. We are aiming for a historic sixth straight victory in what is our first meeting in over six years.

Chelsea have been victorious in seven out of our 23 away matches at Ninian Park and the Cardiff City Stadium, with 10 defeats and six draws.

Head-to-Head (all competitions)

Played 45
Won 20
Drawn 10
Lost 15

Last five meetings at Cardiff City

5 September 1981 | Division Two | W 2-1 (Mayes 2)
31 March 1984 | Division Two | D 3-3 (Lee, Spackman pen, Dixon)
28 October 1986 | League Cup | L 2-1 (Jones pen)
11 May 2014 | Premier League | W 2-1 (Schurrle, Torres)
31 May 2019 | Premier League | W 2-1 (Azpilicueta, Loftus-Cheek)

Biggest win for each team:

Cardiff 6-1 Chelsea | 1922/23 | Division One
Chelsea 6-0 Cardiff | 1962/63 | Division Two
Chelsea's biggest win at Cardiff is 3-1 in 1976/77 in Division Two.

Chelsea stats

Chelsea are facing a League One team in the Carabao Cup for the second time this season, following our 2-1 away win over Lincoln City in September.

We ended our four-game winless run on Saturday by defeating Everton 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, extending our unbeaten home league run against the Toffees to 31 matches.

Chelsea are competing in our 25th League Cup quarter-final. We have advanced to the semi-finals in 16 of the previous 24, including on the last five occasions. Sunderland, in 2013/14, were the last side to eliminate the Blues at this stage of the competition.

The Blues have progressed in each of our last 18 League Cup ties against sides from a lower division, the joint-second-longest run by a top-flight side in League Cup history.

The last time Chelsea were eliminated from the competition by a lower-division side was in the fourth round in November 2008, when we lost 5-4 on penalties to Burnley after a 1-1 draw.

Victory would take us into our 63rd major semi-final and 17th in the League Cup.

Chelsea's last five League Cup quarter-finals

2014/15 | Derby County (A) | W 3-1
2017/18 | Bournemouth (H) | W 2-1
2018/19 | Bournemouth (H) | W 1-0
2021/22 | Brentford (A) | W 2-0
2022/23 | Newcastle United (H) | W 1-1 (4-2 on pens)

Chelsea's run to the quarter-finals

Third round | Lincoln City (A) | W 2-1
Fourth round | Wolverhampton Wanderers (A) | W 4-3

League Cup scorers: George 2, Buonanotte 1, Estevao 1, Gittens 1, Santos 1

Chelsea’s last 15 eliminations from the competition have come against Premier League opposition.

Milestones

Reece James has played three consecutive 90 minutes (Bournemouth, Atalanta, Everton) for the first time since a run of five completed matches in March and April 2023 (Everton, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Wolves, Real Madrid) under three different managers - Graham Potter, Bruno Saltor (interim) and Frank Lampard (caretaker).

Trevoh Chalobah started his 100th Chelsea match across all competitions against Everton.

Cardiff City stats

Last season

Championship: 24th
FA Cup: Lost 2-0 away at Aston Villa in the fifth round
Carabao Cup: Lost 5-3 at home to Southampton in the second round
Top scorer: Callum Robinson 12

Best seasons in the League Cup

Runners-up: 2011/12 (lost 3-2 on penalties to Liverpool after a 2-2 draw)
Semi-final: 1965/66
Fourth round: 1986/87, 2004/05, 2007/08

Cardiff City are looking to reach the League Cup semi-finals for the third time in their history and first for 13 years.

The Bluebirds are currently top of League One with 41 points from 19 games, four points ahead of Bradford City in second place. They have won six of their last seven games in all competitions (one defeat).

Head coach Brian Barry-Murphy succeeded Enzo Maresca as Manchester City's elite development squad manager in 2021, after Maresca left for Parma. Maresca returned a year later as Pep Guardiola’s assistant, and both were with the club for the 2022/23 season. Cole Palmer, Romeo Lavia and Liam Delap were all coached by Barry-Murphy when they were at City.

Only Brighton & Hove Albion (12) have scored more goals in the Carabao Cup this season than Cardiff (nine). They have also had 52 shots, 11 more than any other side in the competition.

Cardiff's run to the quarter-finals

First round | Swindon Town (H) | W 2-1
Second round | Cheltenham Town (H) | W 3-0
Third round | Burnley (A) | W 2-1
Fourth round | Wrexham (A) | W 2-1

League Cup scorers: J Colwill 2, Ashford 1, Chambers 1, R Colwill 1, Davies 1, Fish 1, Robinson 1, Salech 1

Last five results

Mansfield Town (h) W 3-0
Wimbledon (EFL Trophy, h) L 5-1
Huddersfield Town (h) W 3-2
Stevenage (a) W 1-0
Doncaster Rovers (h) W 4-3

The Bluebirds' top scorer this season is Yousef Salech with 11.

Last line-up

Cardiff City 4-3 Doncaster Rovers
Saturday 13 DecemberTeam (4-2-3-1): Trott; Kpakio (Ng h-t), Fish (Lawlor h-t), Chambers (c), Bagan; Wintle, Robertson (Turnbull 65); Ashford, Kellyman (Robinson 76), Davies (Willock h-t); Salech
Scorers: Kellyman 25, Ashford 34, Salech 50, Bagan 90+9

Discipline

Marc Cucurella and Cardiff’s Ronan Kpakio are suspended for one match for reaching two yellow cards in the Carabao Cup.

Yellow cards only count in the competition that they are received. In the Carabao Cup, two bookings will result in a one-match suspension.

Chelsea Carabao Cup yellow cards: Cucurella 2, Caicedo 1, Estevao 1, Fernandez 1, George 1, Jorgensen 1, Santos 1

Match officials

Referee: Tony Harrington

There is no VAR.

Tony Harrington's most recent Chelsea match was our 5-1 Premier League win away against Southampton last December.