Carabao Cup semi-final first leg preview: Chelsea and Liverpool look to build first leg leads

After last weekend’s FA Cup action, the League Cup returns for two first-leg fixtures to mark the start of the semi-finals.

We preview both games below.

Middlesbrough v Chelsea – Tuesday 8:00pm

First kick-off is Middlesbrough versus Chelsea, a game that has been played 117 times in the past, with the last meeting in March 2022 in the FA Cup where Chelsea came away victorious, winning 2-0. Middlesbrough have been struggling with their form at home, losing their last five games at the Riverside, and currently sit slap bang in the middle of Championship. They’ve also had a tough break against Aston Villa in the FA Cup where they fell victim to a late goal, losing 1-0, so they may be low on confidence against Chelsea.

Chelsea are 1/2 to win this clash, with Middlesbrough out at 4/1. Although the Blues are odds-on favourites, they are by no means the team Chelsea have always been considered to be, they’re currently joint-tenth along with Wolves in the Premier League on 29 points, almost 20 points behind leaders Liverpool so Mauricio Pochettino will be looking to salvage what he can from what is set to be a highly disappointing season in the Premier League by their own standards.

With regards to who will make the difference ahead of Tuesday’s game, the usual suspects for the blues are backed to hit the back of the net. Leading the anytime goalscorer market for Chelsea is Armando Broja at 7/5 who netted in their 4-0 FA Cup win against Preston at the weekend. In behind is Raheem Stirling (6/4) who has really come into his own this season despite the hardships the team has faced, showing maturity and leadership in what is quite an eclectic mix of players.

For Middlesbrough, Emmanuel Latte Lath and Josh Coburn are both at 16/5 to pull through and score past Dorde Petrovic. The former is Middlesbrough’s top scorer this season with seven goals to his name. Lath is currently averaging a goal every two games with an impressive shot accuracy of nearly 70% so he will be hoping for that one golden opportunity to fall his way.

Liverpool v Fulham – Wednesday 8:00pm

Over the weekend, Liverpool displayed a really impressive game against Premier League rivals Arsenal winning 2-0 to knock the latter out of the FA Cup. Last time the Reds faced Fulham, we were treated to a thrilling game of football which ended 4-3 in favour of Liverpool, with two late goals from Wataru Endo and Trent Alexander-Arnold sealing the Cottagers’ fate.

Jurgen Klopp and his men have shown how well they can perform with a depleted squad, dispatching Arsenal without the likes of Virgil van Dijk and some notable others, so given this is the semi-final of the Carabao Cup, it’s likely Klopp will be looking to add to the trophy cabinet and try to get a convincing win in this first leg. Liverpool are odds-on at 1/4 to do so with Fulham 13/2 to come out on top.

We can expect a team of youngsters to be given a chance in this fixture as to preserve the main first team given the absence of Mohamed Salah, avoiding injury will be crucial to maintain their Premier League campaign. Having said that, Diogo Jota (6/5) and Darwin Nunez (21/20) are both expected to start and to score against Fulham, to continue to their hot streak as of late.

For the Cottagers, Carlos Vinicius (18/5) and Raul Jimenez (17/5) lead the anytime goalscorer market. They have eight goals between them in all competitions and can ensure their side make their presence felt away from home.

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