After victory against Derby County in the Capital One Cup quarter-final, Chelsea are being tipped to make the league cup their first trophy of the season. The Blues are into the semi-finals, where they will face Liverpool or Bournemouth, Tottenham or Newcastle, and Sheffield United.
With Chelsea top of the Premier League, two legs away from the league cup final, drawn against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last-16, and facing Watford in the FA Cup third round, Jose Mourinho’s side are on course to win the quadruple. However, the Blues boss was keen to play down such talk.
“We spoke a few weeks ago about being unbeatable in the Premier League and we never did it. Now we speak about the quadruple but we haven’t done it. We have our feet on the ground,” he said.
There’s no doubt Mourinho will be thinking about the possibility of winning on all four fronts this season, and spending wisely in the January transfer could well be key to help them achieve such goals. Chelsea have a very strong squad, but little in the way of depth in case of a heavy injury crisis, which could see the Blues falter late in the season.
Against Derby County, they lost centre-back Kurt Zouma to injury, and barring a positional shift for Branislav Ivanovic, Chelsea have no other viable option to play at the heart of the defence should the likes of John Terry or Gary Cahill pick up a knock.
Having a strong squad full of depth will be vital for the Londoners to compete for the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Capital One Cup, but if anybody can do it; Jose Mourinho can. It’s certainly taxing on the players having to feature in so many games a season, and Mourinho will know he has to invest on more options so he can rest his key stars to avoid them becoming fatigued.
For Chelsea, the job is far from done, but they can do little more to prove their credentials to win on all four fronts as things stand, with only one defeat from 25 games played in all competitions. Last season saw them finish third in the Premier League table, Champions League semi-finalists, Capital One Cup quarter-finalists, and in the fifth round of the FA Cup. And considering how greatly they’ve since strengthened in the summer, can Chelsea win the quadruple this campaign?
