The Blues (9-3-3, 30 points in English Premier League play) are coming off of a hard-fought 2-1 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday at Stamford Bridge in which Fernando Torres and Ramires scored for the home side to keep Chelsea in the thick of the race and comfortably near the top of the Premier League standings.
Sunderland (2-3-11 9 points) and manager Gus Poyet played West Ham United to an uneventful 0-0 draw on Saturday at Upton Park and now sits dangerously in 20th place, four points behind the next closest two clubs (Fulham, Crystal Palace) as the season approaches the halfway mark.
The Black Cats are appearing in the quarter-finals of this competition for the seventh time, and first since losing to Crystal Palace in 2000-01. While the Blues have reached the quarter-finals of the League Cup in 10 of the last 13 seasons. They have progressed in five of their nine previous ties in this run.
It may be added that in Tuesday’s other quarter-final match, Manchester City is at upstart Championship side Leicester City while on Wednesday, West Ham United travels to Tottenham Hotspur and Stoke City hosts Manchester United. So a Chelsea-City-Spurs-United final four is still a distinct possibility.
The Capital One Cup Quarters is being played between Sunderland - Chelsea on Tuesday Dec 17, 2013, kick-off 19:45 GMT/3:45 p.m. EDT/12:45 p.m. PDT at Stadium Of Light, Sunderland, England, United Kingdom.
If you are one of the fans located at different destination and miss the chance to visit the stadium to watch your favourite team, You can now watch the match live on your laptop or desktop computer, FREE, provided you have an internet connection, from the links given below:
