Predicted Chelsea lineup (4-2-3-1) to face Man United, James and Kovacic start

Chelsea are at Stamford Bridge for the League Cup fourth round tie against Manchester United tonight.

The Blues are presently in a rich vein of form with seven victories on the bounce and they will be aiming to avenge the 4-0 league defeat suffered at Old Trafford in the season opener.

Predicted Lineup:

Willy Caballero has been the designated goalkeeper for the League Cup under Frank Lampard. The Blues boss should stick with the veteran between the sticks, given he has already indicated that a few changes are expected.

In the defence, Lampard does not have the room to make changes in the central defensive department with Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen out of contention due to low fitness and injury respectively.

Marc Guehi remains a possible option from the development squad but Lampard is likely to stick with the senior combination of Kurt Zouma and Fikayo Tomori.

At right-back, Reece James could make only his third start of the season ahead of Cesar Azpilicueta. A similar change is expected at left-back with Emerson replacing Marcos Alonso.

In the midfield, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic fared impressively together during the recent Clarets trip and they may combine once more with N'Golo Kante out with fitness concerns while Ross Barkley remains an injury doubt.

Coming to the attack, Mason Mount and Willian have played constantly over the past two months and Lampard may take the decision to bench them for this game.

Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi will likely start on the left and right side of the attack respectively while Pedro could earn a rare start in the number 10 role.

Upfront, Tammy Abraham will definitely be rested. Michy Batshuayi and Olivier Giroud are the choices off the bench and the former seems likely to start after bagging goals in each of his previous two substitute outings.

Predicted XI: Willy Caballero; Reece James, Kurt Zouma, Fikayo Tomori, Emerson; Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho; Callum Hudson-Odoi, Pedro, Christian Pulisic; Batshuayi.