The rest of the ‘Big Six’ are still involved but there is one less hurdle around after Spurs’ humiliating loss to Colchester United.
Callum Hudson-Odoi signed a new five-year contract with Chelsea last weekChelsea were beaten in the final of the competition on penalties by Manchester City last term so will be looking to go one better in 2019/20.
Stamford Bridge boss Frank Lampard has placed his faith in youth since succeeding Maurizio Sarri in July, regularly playing Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori.
And more Chelsea academy graduates could get the chance to impress this week.
Reece James, who enjoyed a hugely successful loan spell with Wigan last season, could be handed his senior Blues debut after recovering from ankle surgery.
Callum Hudson-Odoi featured in an Under-23s game against Southampton with James on Saturday. The winger has been sidelined with an Achilles injury since April.
And Lampard has confirmed the pair will play a part against Grimsby.
He said: “They will be involved on Wednesday night, they’ll be involved.
“We certainly need to look at players that haven’t been playing as much against Grimsby.
“We’ll pay them due respect, but it’s certainly a case of getting minutes for players who haven’t been playing.
“Callum is on the road to recovery. It was a long injury, so he needs game time and Reece similarly.
“There will be some different changes, but I expect the same level of performance (as against Liverpool) and I don’t want to lose the feeling of how we can be. It’s important we keep that.”
LIVE on talkSPORT
Check out all the live commentaries coming up across the talkSPORT network this week
- Portsmouth vs Southampton (Tuesday, 7:45pm) – talkSPORT
- Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest (Tuesday, 7:45pm) – talkSPORT 2
- MK Dons vs Liverpool (Wednesday, 7:45pm) – talkSPORT
- Manchester United vs Rochdale (Wednesday, 7:45pm) – talkSPORT 2
- Stoke vs Nottingham Forest (Friday, 7:45pm) – talkSPORT 2
- Sheffield United vs Liverpool (Saturday, 12:30pm) – talkSPORT
- QPR vs West Bromwich Albion (Saturday, 12:30pm) – talkSPORT 2
- Chelsea vs Brighton (Saturday, 3pm) – talkSPORT 2
- Everton vs Manchester City (Saturday, 5:30pm) – talkSPORT
Injuries to Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger have left Chelsea light on centre-half options, so Fikayo Tomori and Kurt Zouma are expected to start, with Marcos Alonso filling in for the injured Emerson at left-back.
N’Golo Kante, who scored for Chelsea in their 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday, is unlikely to play after just returning from an ankle injury, while Jorginho has started every Premier League game this season.
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