Wednesday’s game is a floodlit reprise of last season’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, that the Blues won more comfortably than the 1-0 scoreline suggests.

In fact, Chelsea have a perfect ten out of ten record in progressing from domestic cup ties against the Yorkshiremen, three of them in the League Cup.

We are also unbeaten in nine home games against the Whites across all competitions, winning seven.

Last season’s Premier League clash in London ended 2-2, though. Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer (from the spot) established a two-goal lead before Lukas Nmecha and Noah Okafor claimed a share of the points for Leeds, for the first time since November 2000.

The Peacocks reached this round of the Carabao Cup by winning 2-0 with virtually a full-strength line-up at Nottingham Forest. The world champions saw off League One visitors Luton Town 2-0, with debutant Danny Welbeck opening the scoring.

This is a competition Chelsea last won in 2015. We remain the trophy’s first and most recent winners from the capital.

All round two games are broadcast live on Sky Sports platforms and this one is on Sky Sports channels 401 and 402, plus their app.

Team news

Xabi Alonso confirmed that Levi Colwill is available to feature in our Carabao Cup tie against Leeds United, but that this game comes too soon for Moises Caicedo, Marco Palestra, Emmanuel Emegha or Jordan Henderson to be involved, although he did reveal that Caicedo is back in training following his calf injury.

'Not yet, they are still not ready to go, and it's not the moment to take an early risk,' our manager explained in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. 'So we go game by game with them, but it’s too early.

'It's especially [frustrating] for [Palestra]. He came with huge energy, huge desire to enjoy his game in the Premier League. He had a very good pre-season and a few days before the first game against Fulham, he picked up an injury.

'It’s part of the life of a football player to come back from injury and we will need him for sure. He has great potential and will add a lot of good qualities we need in the team.'

The history

Last season’s FA Cup semi-final against Leeds – a straightforward 1-0 win to Chelsea – added the latest chapter to this storied rivalry, which originated in the 1960s. As post-war England finally embraced the future, Chelsea against Leeds came to embody the conflict between haves and have-nots, tradition and modernity, north versus south.

The fevered football rivalry reached its zenith in the tempestuous 1970 FA Cup final, which the Blues won 2-1 after a replay.

What is less discussed is the fact that the Londoners clashed with the Yorkshiremen six times that season. Both league meetings ended in victory for the Peacocks, but two others came in round three of the League Cup.

Alan Birchenall’s opener in a violent 1-1 encounter at Elland Road earned Dave Sexton’s team a replay at Stamford Bridge. The hosts won 2-0 thanks to Charlie Cooke and another from the Birch.

‘When Leeds win it is a matter of statistics, when they are beaten it is news, and when Chelsea do it to them it is good news for for all those who live in the purlieus of the King’s Road,’ wrote Geoffrey Green.

That was the first occasion the two were drawn together in this competition and it was as if the footballing gods feared further retribution that a further 32 years elapsed before a repeat.

High-flying United were above Claudio Ranieri’s side at kick-off in November 2001, but Chelsea ran out easy winners, with both sets of players on their best behaviour. Eidur Gudjohnsen’s ice-cold finishing brought a 2-0 win for the under-pressure Italian.

Our most recent League Cup encounter was a quarter-final in Yorkshire just before Christmas 2012. By now Leeds were nine years into their tour of the Football League pyramid and the Blues took out our disappointment at losing the FIFA Club World Cup final in Japan days earlier with a club-record victory over the hosts.

Overcoming a hostile crowd and torrid weather, the champions of Europe smashed Neil Warnock’s men 5-1 with five different scorers – Juan Mata, Branislav Ivanovic, Victor Moses, Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres.

Know this...

This is the third time in four seasons that Chelsea and Leeds have been drawn together in a cup competition.

Chelsea (four) and Brighton & Hove Albion (three) are the only Premier League sides with more goals scored from set-plays than Leeds (two) this season.

Only Hull (132) have played fewer successful final-third passes in the current Premier League campaign than Leeds (140).

Chelsea are London’s most successful club in this competition, winning it five times, including the capital’s first and most recent successes. Our ten League Cup final appearances is bettered only by Liverpool (15).

The Blues’ record victory on any front against Leeds was 5-1 at Elland Road in this competition in December 2012.

On 9 September 1905, at Blackpool, John Tait Robertson scored newly-formed Chelsea’s first-ever goal.

Carabao Cup regulations

Goal-line technology and VAR will not be in operation until the semi-finals, unless all host stadiums in the round are suitably equipped.

Nine substitutes can be named and five used in the game (plus a concussion replacement if required).

Yellow cards and suspensions apply only to this competition. Red card bans are served across all domestic fronts.

Each tie is decided on the night and extra-time is not used to decide ties until the second leg of the semi-finals. In the event of scores being level after second-half stoppage time, the outcome will be decided by a penalty shoot-out.

The winners of the Carabao Cup final, played at Wembley Stadium on 21 March 2027, gain entry to next season’s UEFA Conference League play-offs.