Tuesday sees the return of the Carling Cup, with three quarter-finals set to take place. For those fans of teams in blue it could be a good night as Chelsea, Manchester City and Cardiff all look poised to march on into the last four.
Arsenal v Manchester City 8pm
This match at the Emirates Stadium brings together two of the in-form teams in the country, with the Gunners looking to dent City’s hopes of total dominance. Both teams endured tough matches at the weekend, Arsenal putting a lot in to come from a goal down to draw with Fulham, while City hung on grimly to claim a point at Liverpool.
Both teams are likely to radically alter there respective line-ups, with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger expected to rest top scorer Robin van Persie, along with Theo Walcott, Thomas Vermaelen and Alex Song. City boss Roberto Mancini will also make alterations, the difference being the players the Italian can bring in look far superior to the ones at Wenger’s disposal.
With City scoring goals from all over and Arsenal’s defence very leaky Tuesday’s match promises goals, with over 2.5 goals available at 4/6. The tie should be wrapped up by full-time so City at 11/8 looks to be the bet for this one.
Chelsea v Liverpool
These two clubs have made no secret of their lack of interest in the Carling Cup this season, Andre Villas-Boas missing Monday’s press conference before the game, while Kenny Dalglish said weeks ago he would be sending out a youthful looking line-up.
Dalglish has bemoaned the timing of the match, coming 48 hours after their barn-storming encounter against Manchester City. Much like Arsenal, Liverpool are likely to struggle if they get their second string involved given their lack of strength in depth. With Chelsea having had an extra day to recover and with a bigger squad at their disposal you’d expect Villas-Boas’ men to go through.
However, it is unlikely to be easy for the Blues and if you fancy them to reach to the semi-finals 4/11 to qualify, rather than to win in 90 minutes, might be your best bet. Elsewhere, with a tight game in prospect the draw HT/FT at 5/1 might be worth looking at.
Cardiff v Blackburn 7:45pm
Everything looks set for a cup upset at the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday night, with the home side having won six of their last eight matches. Malky Mackay has done a great job in lifting the Bluebirds after more play-off heartache in May, their recent run propelling them up to third in the Championship.
In contrast to Cardiff’s fantastic run, Blackburn have continued to toil at the bottom of the Premier League, going down meekly at Stoke on Saturday. The weekend’s results leave Blackburn rooted to the foot of the league and Steve Kean will see this quarter-final tie as nothing more than a distraction in their fight against the drop.
Blackburn will do well to reach the semi-finals, given their current form, with Cardiff 6/4 to win the tie inside 90 minutes.
The Bluebirds recent good form has been helped by Peter Whittingham’s run of scoring in four out of the last five games.
The former Aston Villa winger is 9/4 to score again against Rovers.
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