Chelsea begin life under Liam Rosenoir with a tricky third-round tie at London rivals, Charlton in the 2024-25 FA Cup.
Victory would see Charlton progress past this stage for the first time since their run to the Quarter-Finals in 2013-14 season.
Chelsea meanwhile are looking to avoid exiting at this stage for the first time since 2022-23 season.
Team News
Reece Burke is set to be available for Charlton despite having been substituted with a minor knee injury in their 2-2 draw at Blackburn in the Championship.
Miles Leaburn (cramp) is too set to be fit for selection but Josh Edwards (ankle) and Matty Godden (knee) are ruled out.
Chelsea will be without left-back, Marc Cucurella following his red card in their 2-1 Premier League loss at Fulham.
Romeo Lavia (quad), Levi Colwill (ACL), Dario Essugo (thigh) and Mykhailo Mudryk (suspension) are still sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Charlton host Chelsea at The Valley on Saturday 10 January at 8pm GMT, live on TNT Sports 2 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Charlton have lost both of their two previous FA Cup meetings against Chelsea (L2).
- Chelsea won 3-0 in their only previous FA Cup trip to Charlton in March 1963 (L1).
- Both of Charlton’s two FA Cup defeats against Chelsea were by 3-0 results.
- Charlton have lost three of their last seven FA Cup meetings against fellow London opposition across five individual ties (W2, D2, L3), with first-round matches against Barnet and Cray Valley Paper Mills having both been won in replays.
- Rosenoir is only the second Chelsea manager after Dave Sexton in 1968 to make their Blues managerial debut in a FA Cup tie.
Prediction
With a sell-out crowd anticipated for the primetime blockbuster at The Valley, Charlton need to park their poor league form of one win in 11 games to the side and just go for it really as underdogs because they have nothing to lose given their poor FA Cup form against Chelsea.
As for the visitors, this is a huge opportunity for them to bounce back from a sloppy display at Fulham where their attack often lacked a solid end product amidst poor marking, although Robert Sanchez was just too slow to react to Raul Jimenez’s header at a saveable height.
Throw in the bounce of Rosenoir’s first game in charge and you have to feel that this is Chelsea’s tie to lose such is their superior quality.
Prediction: Charlton 1-3 Chelsea
Result: Charlton 1-5 Chelsea