Chelsea take on the visitors Derby County at the Stamford Bridge in the 1/8-finals fixture of the EFL Cup. The match will be played in London on Wednesday, October 31st.
Chelsea are on the second place in the Premier League at the moment. They have been undefeated so far this season in the league. The Blues are the clear favourite in the lead-up to their upcoming EFL Cup fixture against Derby County. Quite frankly, there is a huge difference between the levels of these teams, they are from two different leagues in England right now. Thereby there is no sense to call the last match between these clubs to memory. It`s worth noting that the Pensioners often have a big motivation for their games in the EFL Cup. For example, they managed to go through to the finals of the tournament last season. The team lost though to Manchester City in the end. Interestingly, the team of Maurizio Sarri has been scoring more in the second halves of their matches than in the first ones recently. Now the Blues most likely want to show great performance both in the first and the second half of their EFL Cup fixture against Derby County on Wednesday. In their last three matches Chelsea beat Burnley with a 4-0 score, BATE Borisov with a 3-1 score in their UEFA Europa League group stage fixture and drew against Manchester United with a 2-2 score.
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Derby County are on the sixth place in the English Football League Championship at the moment. Interestingly, they placed exactly sixth in the table last season and failed to go through to the Premier League in the end. Even though the level of Rams is about the same as it was last season the team can surprise any opponent in the EFL Cup now. For example, in the 1/16-finals fixture of the tournament the team of Frank Lampard managed to draw against Manchester United in the normal time of the game with one player removed from the field in the squad of the Red Devils. However, it is unlikely that Chelsea will show such a nothing performance on Wednesday as Manchester United did last round. The Rams will probably lose the upcoming fixture with quite a big score. In their last three matches Derby County drew against Middlesbrough with a 1-1 score, beat West Bromwich Albion with a 4-1 score and Sheffield United with a 2-1 score.
It often happens in England that the higher level club beats the lower level club with a big score. Furthermore, most of the goals are scored in the second halves of the games in these situations. For example, Chelsea have scored most of their goals in the second halves of their Premier League fixtures against Burnley, Southampton and Cardiff City recently. It is likely though that the team of Maurizio Sarri will not only show a strong performance in the second half of their game against Derby County on Wednesday but in the first one too.
Prediction for the match: Chelsea to win the first half.
