Many Chelsea fans from over the years will know, a Mourinho side does not lose very often. When they do it is even rarer that they concede over four goals. Occasionally they do, when they do you always get a response. After the shock Premier League defeat to Tottenham, Chelsea went on to beat Newcastle 2-0 and ease past Swansea, winning 5-0. The two victories showed a great response from Chelsea, taking six points from two games in the Premier League alongside playing some of their best football.
This is something I’m sure we will see as Chelsea welcome Liverpool to Stamford Bridge for the return leg of the Capital One Cup Semi-Final. The tie is finely balanced with the score’s 1-1 on aggregate. With a place in the final up for grabs, Mourinho will defiantly be looking for a response from his players after being knocked out of the FA Cup in a 4-2 defeat against Bradford.
After resting many of the regular first team players against Bradford it is likely to be a strong starting eleven that face Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. Oscar could be recalled instead of John Obi Mikel as Chelsea will look to take the game to Liverpool, inevitably seeing Cesc Fabregas drop to a deeper more defensive role. Now any talk of a quadruple has been squashed, the importance of this game for Jose Mourinho has just increased, the Special One will want to take the Capital One Cup back to Stamford Bridge, especially as it was the first trophy Jose Mourinho won as the Chelsea manager in 2004. Costa is expected to return to lead to line for Chelsea, despite struggling at Anfield. Courtois is likely to return in place of Petr Cech between the sticks. Azpilcueta will also be hoping to make a start after returning from injury against Bradford.
Lucas is expected to continue in the Liverpool side on the ground where he suffered a horrific injury back in 2011. The big story for Liverpool is that former Chelsea striker Daniel Sturrigde could return against his former employers. The England striker that Liverpool have missed so dearly is unlikely to start but could feature in order to regain his fitness. Jon Flannagan also remains injured for Liverpool.
Both sides will be keen to put things right after both suffering disappointing results in the FA Cup. Ultimately I believe it will be a completely different game plan to the one we saw at Anfield. I think you can expect Chelsea to start very quickly, on the hunt for an early goal. Big players such as Costa and Hazard will need to step up on the big occasion if Chelsea are looking to progress to the Wembley final.
