This is only the ninth-ever meeting between the two clubs and a first in this competition, starting our 66th participation in the League Cup since 1960.

The Blues, London’s most successful contestants of the midweek cup with five wins of the tri-handled trophy, last reached the final in 2024.

While Chelsea and other UEFA competition participants received a bye to this round, the Imps reached this stage by winning 3-1 at Harrogate Town and then 1-0 at Burton Albion. This is their first home tie.

Their most recent top-flight visitors in this competition were West Ham United, 1-0 winners in September 2023. The previous season they were eliminated 2-1 at Southampton and, on this ground in September 2020, Liverpool ran out 7-2 victors.

The Lincolnshire club, who celebrated their 140th anniversary in June, briefly topped the third tier after Saturday’s 3-1 home beating of Luton Town.

At Old Trafford, meanwhile, the FIFA Club World Cup champions suffered a first Premier League defeat of the season, but second in a row across all competitions, and will now be determined to return to the victory path.

The Londoners have progressed to round four in 13 of the past 14 League Cup campaigns and will hope to inflict the Lincolnshire side’s first home defeat of the season across all competitions.

The draw for round four of this competition will take place after Wednesday’s 8pm match between Port Vale and Arsenal.

The history

Chelsea have won five of our six Football League meetings with Lincoln, but we have never met before in the League Cup, making the Imps our 71st different opponent in this competition.

The Blues’ only previous knockout encounter with the Imps came in round one of the 1906/07 FA Cup. A 0-0 draw at Sincil Bank was followed four days later by a surprise 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge.

The architect of the Imps’ success, David Calderhead, succeeded William Lewis at the Bridge a few months later and remains our longest-serving manager, retiring in 1933 after almost 26 years at the helm.

Back in Division Two in 1910, Calderhead punished his old club 7-0. George Hilsdon, Bob Whittingham and Jack Woodward each scored a brace and Sam Downing weighed in with another to record our joint-second highest ever league victory, right up to the 8-0 against Wigan Athletic in May 2010.

The last match-up was 115 years ago, the following March at Sincil Bank, again 0-0. Whittingham striking a post was all the Londoners had to show for dominating in squally weather, while Jim Molyneux proved invincible at the other end.

Know this...

Chelsea are London’s first and most recent winners of the League Cup – in 1965 and 2015.

The Londoners’ 10 League Cup final appearances is bettered only by Liverpool (15).

Chelsea last visited a League One ground in this competition at the same stage in 2015, beating Walsall 4-1 with goals from Ramires, Loic Remy, Kenedy and Pedro.

Lincoln manager Michael Skubala was caretaker boss of relegation-bound Leeds United after Jesse Marsch’s dismissal in February 2023, then part of Javi Gracia’s staff when the Yorkshiremen were beaten 1-0 at the Bridge in March.

In the 2016/17 FA Cup, Lincoln beat Premier League opponents Burnley 1–0 to become the first non-league side to reach the quarter-finals since 1913/14.

Seven Premier League clubs have already exited the floodlit competition this season – Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Leeds, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and West Ham.

Carabao Cup regulations

Goal-line technology and VAR will not be used for this game as the required equipment is not installed at the host stadium.

Team sheets must be submitted an hour before kick-off. 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, but red card bans are served across all domestic fronts.

Extra time is not used to decide ties until the semi-finals. Until then, in the event of scores being level after second-half stoppage time, the outcome will be decided by penalties. The Londoners’ most recent shoot-out ended in a 4-2 success. It came in a League Cup quarter-final against Newcastle United in December 2023.

Having played in a previous round for then-loan club Sunderland, Marc Guiu is cup-tied and unavailable for selection.