Track Tickets
Four teams are still in contention for the win in the Carabao Cup, formerly known as the EFL Cup. Chelsea and Middlesbrough are the first two teams to decide which one of them will win a ticket for the final. Next Tuesday they play at Stamford Bridge in an attempt to reach the final. Middlesbrough defends a 1-0 lead from the first leg of this tie. In order to look at Chelsea’s chances of reaching the final, we did a deepdive in their EFL Cup semi-final history.
Chelsea’s semi-finals
The 2023-2024 Carabao Cup tournament, is the 16th time Chelsea reached the semi-final stages. Out of the previous 15 times, they progressed to the final in 9 editions. Eventually the Blues won 5 EFL Cup trophies, the last being in 2015. Four times they ended runners-up, latest being in 2022. This shows Chelsea is a worthy opponent in the tournament.
Coming back from being behind
We just learned that Chelsea played in 15 Carabao Cup semi-finals before this season. 9 times out of the 15, they reached the final. Since they are 1-0 behind, we looked into the times, they’ve been 1-0 behind after the first leg before. We found two ties in which Chelsea went into the second leg trailing by 1 goal. In 1998 Arsenal won the first semi-final leg with 2-1. In 2019 Tottenham Hotspur won with 1-0 at home in the first leg. In both editions Chelsea overcame this deficit and ended in the final. In the end they won the tournament in 1998 and lost the final in 2019.
1998 Chelsea v Arsenal EFL Cup semi-final
In the 1998 semi-final second leg, it didn’t take Chelsea a long time to tie the score. After 10 minutes Mark Hughes already opened the score for the Blues, wiping out the 2-1 lead Arsenal took away from Highbury. Early in the second half, Roberto Di Matteo and Dan Petrescu tripled the lead to 3-0. A penalty by Dennis Bergkamp in the 82nd minute, brought some tension back in the game, but Chelsea managed to keep the 3-1 lead and qualified for the final.
2019 Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur EFL Cup semi-final
A netted penalty from Harry Kane got Tottenham the 1-0 lead from the first leg of this tie. In the match at Stamford Bridge, N’Golo Kante and Eden Hazard scored in quick succession, bringing Chelsea the lead in the tie. Early in the second half Fernando Llorente tied the score for Tottenham Hotspur. With a 2-2 on aggregate, this match went into penalties. Eric Dier and Lucas Moura both missed for Spurs. This led to Chelsea reaching the final after a 1 goal deficit, for the second time.
2024 Chelsea v Middlesbrough EFL Cup
This season is the third time Chelsea goes into the second leg of this tie being 1 goal behind. For the third time they will play a home match, but this is the is the first time they play against a Championship team. History shows us Chelsea is capable of overcoming a goal behind. Especially against a Championship team, it isn’t unthinkable Chelsea can get into the final. Chelsea v Middlesbrough tickets are still available, as are Carabao Cup final tickets. Support the Blues in this exciting tournament and shout them into their 10th EFL Cup final.
