PREVIEW: Chelsea vs Burnley

Chelsea resume their participation in the Carling Cup this Wednesday evening with a home tie against Championship side Burnley.

It promises to be an enthralling encounter with a packed Stamford Bridge, courtesy of reduced ticket prices for domestic cup competitions, with 6,000 opposition fans journeying south to follow their team.

The Carling Cup ahs been a good competition for Chelsea in recent years and Luiz Felipe Scolari will be keen to emulate his predecessors, Mourinho and Grant, who both reached Carling Cup Final, with differing results, in their first season in charge.

The biggest challenge currently facing Scolari though will relate to his team selection. Normally, the Carling Cup is seen as a competition whereby legs can be rested and a few fringe players and youngsters given a run out.

Sadly, because of our injury crisis, Scolari maybe doesn`t have that luxury, whilst he would no doubt like to rest certain players the threadbare nature of his squad would indicate that the team could seriously suffer as a result.

Despite the fact that the media are reporting that Michael Ballack, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Didier Drogba and Ricardo Carvalho are all tipped to return sometime this week, we`d be surprised if it were against Burnley.

However, Scolari has a reputation for entrusting youth and the likes of Stoch, Sinclair and Di Santo will be itching to be given a chance to shine.

My suspicions are that the starting eleven will be a little strange compared to recent weeks and may look something like this,

Cudicini, Ferreira, Ivanovic, Terry, Bridge, Belletti, Lampard, Deco, Kalou, Di Santo and Sinclair.

Whether that`ll be strong enough to overcome a Burnley side looking to pull off a shock remains to be seen but we`re fairly certain that there will be some star names on the bench just in case matters do not go according to plan, the likes of J.Cole, A.Cole, Drogba and Ballack.

So what do we know about Burnley!

They currently sit in a healthy fifth position in the Championship with twenty-six points from sixteen games. Managed by Owen Coyle they went down 2-0 to a Wolverhampton Wanderers side containing Michael Mancienne this weekend, in a game whereby they received six yellow cards and one red card.

The red card will mean that Clarke Carlisle will miss the trip to Stamford Bridge whilst their striker, Steve Thompson, is cup tied. Michael Duff is expected to replace the suspended Carlisle.

Owen Coyle will also be hoping that Steven Caldwell and Stephen Jordan shake off injuries to play.

Whatever happens, it promises to be a thrilling night and if it is as half as competitive as the tie with Leicester City last year, where Lampard rode to our rescue, it`ll be a right humdinger.