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Half-time: Cardiff 0-0 Chelsea
Just one minute added on of a half where Cardiff have been the better team and Chelsea have been short of fluency and threat. Surely big guns will arrive in the second half. It’s all to play for.
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45 min: Ooof, the ball comes loose, and Turnbull, from an unrealistic distance, shoots. Jorgensen scrambles to the floor as it goes wide. There’s cheers soon after as Caicedo gets booked. Silly from the skipper: he was booked for sarcastic clapping of the referee. The free-kick spins just wide of a queue of Cardiff players.
Rob Wall get in touch, conjuring unnecessary images: “First of all, thanks to Brian Kitt for the vowel-related lol. I doubt it is the league cup’s biggest ever vowel mismatch though, given that two of Buonanotte’s teammates in this very game have the same number of first-name-surname-combined vowels as him (Adarabioyo and Badaishile). Blimey that was hard to type on a phone in the bath.”
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43 min: Julian Borrill gets in touch: “Just on his own team in this match, Facundo Buonanotte will need to split the vowel-difference honors with Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoit Badiashile. And … and de Jesus Joao Pedro on the bench.”
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41 min: Peter Oh gets in touch: “Please tell me VAR is reviewing Brian Kitt’s contribution for serious vowel play!”
No VAR here tonight? This is where we forget the tyranny of the system. Sunday at Brentford was farcical. All decisions correct, just a lot of messing around. Is that a price worth paying?
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40 min: Ng makes a timely intervention to stop Gittens getting away. Cardiff have been note perfect in defence, now can they put together some attacking moves?
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38 min: My colleague Ben Fisher tells me “BBM’ is fully operational as an initialism among Cardiff fans. “BBM’s Bluebird Army” as the song goes.
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37 min: Great play from Bagan in robbing Acheampong, only for Caicedo to lope after him and quell the danger.
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36 min: Do Cardiff smell blood? This 11-changes Chelsea lineup is unconvincing. Tyrique George has a dig from distance but way over.
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34 min: The closest yet! Davies escapes Acheampong, whose tackle is non-existent and a deflected shot asks Jorgensen to change direction to save the ball.
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33 min: Great work from Davies, who escapes with the ball from defence and it takes three Chelsea players to overman him. Really good effort from Cardiff. Robinson is a tad lonesome but the midfield is being swarmed all over.
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31 min: Caicedo – at last – gets involved, and after finding space he releases Guiu, whose shot is fierce and on target but Nathan Trott stops that at the near post.
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29 min: Santos, who has been another player struggling with Cardiff’s brio, falls flat as Turnbull runs almost right through him.
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27 min: Chelsea yet to see the best of Buonanotte. So are Brighton, in truth, though he did OK at Leicester last season. He fouls Ashford but gets away with a yellow. The home fans are not happy, neither is BBM.
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26 min: Chambers is booked for his challenge on Guiu; it was what in old money is called the reducer. It’s awarded despite an offside being called.
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24 min: Gary Byrne gets in touch: “Chelsea’s away kit is officially described as a uniform honouring the Magnificent Magyars, inspired by the Hungarian flag. It looks a bit sh** (green) to me.”
Brian Kitt – any relation to Eartha? – supplies a beauty: “Facundo Buonanotte has 7 more vowels in his name than Perry Ng. Surely the largest vowel mismatch in League Cup history?”
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23 min: Davies with a big chance as Bagan plays him in. With defenders breathing down his neck he scuffs his effort – it ends up going off the sideline.
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21 min: Matt Dony gets in touch: “Right. Housekeeping. Super Furry Animals are unequivocally brilliant, and even better live (although watching Gruff Rhys play guitar is always confusing. He uses a normal right-handed guitar as a left-hander, so it’s upside down). On topic, Cardiff will really have to go some to top Swansea’s League Cup defeat of Chelsea, with the tremendously entertaining Ball Boy/Eden Hazard stuff. Glad to be reminded of it.”
I once saw them get soaked to the skin at Finsbury Park. It wasn’t good. The sun came out for New Order who were great.
The wonderful Gruff Rhys of the Super Furry Animals. Photograph: Peter Pakvis/RedfernsShare
Updated at 15.41 EST
20 min: Bagan makes a heroic block to bail out his fellow defenders who had been trying to pass out of defence.
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18 min: Turnbull chases down Tyrique George. Discussion point: now that the Premier League is long ball, has the EFL become the new home of Pep-ball, all pressing and controlled passing?
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17 min: This no trip down Easy Street for the Chelsea team. BBM, as nobody is calling him, has put a decent team together here.
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15 min: Acheampong showing what he can do by bringing the ball out; and is fouled by Davies. Who gets yellow. Davies was previously hacked by Acheampong, who has a turn of foot and showed a clean pair of heels.
Josh-Kofi Acheampong runs away from Isaak Davies. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 15.20 EST
14 min: Chance! Chelsea’s George skips to the byline, and his ball is a full invitation. Guiu and Gittens refuse to take it up. Enzo looks unhappy at that.
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12 min: Jorgensen asked to save a shot. Foul on Davies by Acheampong and a shot comes in from David Turnbull. Chelsea yet to get into this.
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11 min: The corner is taken short, and laid up for Badiashile to shoot wide. Perhaps not the right player to be on the end of that routine.
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10 min: Chelsea attempt to take the sting out of Cardiff but the press is high. They play over the press and Guiu is the target. He’s crowded out. Gittens attempts a dribble and the ball runs for a corner.
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8 min: Good Cardiff momentum as a cross from Bagan is beaten away. Chelsea have been sub-optimal. Caicedo’s already thrown in a foul but not done much else.
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7 min: First chance to Cardiff, as Hato is overmanned by Joel Colwill, and the cross comes in for Callum Robinson, for whom the ball is too high. The header drifts over.
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6 min: Calum Chambers, once the future of English football, is in the thick of things, and making a new life for himself in Wales. He’s 31 next month.
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4 min: Cardiff play the ball back to goalkeeper Trott. He has to sidestep Guiu, in the style of a pre-Donnarumma Guardiola goalie. All very Russ Martin. This time, he gets away with it.
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3 min: Another ball to Gittens, and Ng is hurt, and is feeling his shoulder after a heavy ball. More jeers as Tyrique George fails to find a way through the middle.
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2 min: Tosin aims a long ball towards Gittens, but to jeers, the ball runs out of play.
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Away we go in Cardiff
1 min: The League One leaders set into Chelsea but the world champs choose to play keep ball.
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Big noise at the Cardiff City Stadium, which is an atmospheric place when it gets going. Hey Jude rings out and Macca pockets a few more quid. It really works as a buildup song.
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Enzo Maresca spoke to Sky: “It’s important to win the game, I’ve prepared the right team that is going to attack and can defend. We’ve tried to find the right balance, it’s not easy, but hopefully it’s the right thing to do.”
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As we continue the countdown to ecstasy, Peter Oh gets in touch: “ It doesn’t get any bluer than this fixture, does it? The good thing is that no matter what happens tonight, it’s sure to be a blue Christmas for both sets of fans.”
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Joe Pearson gets in touch: “In honor of the hosts, I’ve got Spotify picking Super Furry Animals cuts for me. That will certainly confuse my Wrapped next year.”
Never got them, though I do like the one that samples Steely Dan’s Show Biz Kids.
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Julian Menz gets in touch: “If I were a Cardiff fan enjoying a pint of Brain’s and seeing the names Tosin and Badiashile as Chelsea’s CB pairing, I’d be having a crafty tenner (6-1) on the Bluebirds.”
Brains is a good drop.
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Guess that’s why they call it the Blues.
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There’s trouble at t’Chelsea mill, as Jacob Steinberg has been reporting.
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Another Irishman, Callum Robinson, leads the Cardiff line, as top scorer Yousef Salech is on the bench. Omari Kellyman is ineligible as he is on loan from Chelsea among five changes by BBM as he is doubtless known by nobody.
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Great Ben Fisher interview with Brian Barry-Murphy, the Cardiff manager. Ben’s interviews are always good. Irish readers will know Barry-Murphy is the son of the great GAA player and Corkman, Jimmy Barry-Murphy,
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That’s 11 (eleven) changes from Enzo Maresca’s team from the defeat of Everton. Moises Caicedo leads the team as captain.
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The teams – a youthful Chelsea
Cardiff: Trott, Ng, Lawlor, Chambers, Bagan, Wintle, Turnbull, Joel Colwill, Isaak Davies, Ashford, Robinson. Subs: Turner, Giles, Fish, Mafico, Robertson, Donczew, Nyakuhwa, Willock, Salech.
Chelsea: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Hato, Caicedo, Santos, George, Buonanotte, Bynoe-Gittens, Guiu. Subs: Sanchez, Chalobah, Fofana, Gusto, James, Fernandez, Garnacho, Pedro Neto, Joao Pedro.
Referee: Tony Harrington (Cleveland)
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Preamble
The cup of dreams fizzes over with Big Blues and their visit to the Bluebirds. Chelsea are an unsteady ship, judging by some of the noises coming from their manager, though explanations for Enzo Maresca’s Saturday huff comes there none. Cardiff are blazing a trail in League One, spirits revived by a squad of homespun talent. Chelsea have a mix of homespun and bought in, mostly the latter. They also have a gargantuan squad, with an infinite number of wingers. What awaits us in the Principality? The answer is a semi-final place.
Kick-off at 8pm. Join me.
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