Plenty has been made of Chelsea’s away fixtures so far this month but now the Blues travel to the LNER Stadium for a Third Round Carabao Cup tie against Lincoln City.
Trips to Brentford and Old Trafford were sandwiched either side of a European trip to Bayern Munich last week where the Blues were beaten 3-1 courtesy of a Harry Kane brace.
However, focus now to turns to what may be not only City’s biggest game of the season, but quite possibly their biggest game of the decade.
With the visit of six-time Champions League winners Liverpool forced to be played behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 at the same stage of the 2020/21 competition. This fixture becomes the first time a Champions League team has played in front of a Sincil Bank crowd.
Honourable mentions must go to the visit of Everton the season prior alongside that historic FA Cup run of the 2016/17 season that included trips to Premier League sides Arsenal and Burnley.
However, with the chance now to play in front of a home crowd and the position the club now find themselves in; this feels like a real chance for Michael Skubala’s side to capitalise on a special occasion.
With the side having lost just once all season this one really has the feeling that anything could happen.
Opponents: Chelsea
Chelsea come into the game off the back of a disappointing 2-1 loss on the road against Manchester United after having their goalkeeper Robert Sanchez sent off inside five minutes.
Prior to that, the Blues had won two and drawn two in the league and lost to Bayern in their only Champions League game to date.
Their impressive outing in the Club World Cup in the summer proves they pose a massive threat and can beat anyone in the world on their day.
Enzo Maresca’s side now travel to Lincolnshire as they entertain Lincoln City in what is arguably the Imps’ biggest game of the decade.
Team News:
Ahead of the huge game, head-coach Michael Skubala said: “We are in a good place, there’s no more injuries off the back of the weekend.
“Nothing picked up from the weekend, a few tired legs which is to be expected because it was a tough game.”
He also spoke on the positive atmosphere around the team and city right now. He said: “The group is very strong, very experienced in certain aspects with some good youthfulness to it as well.
”The competitive edge is fantastic… training is at a level that is really high and is competitive for places.
”They (The players) want to be apart of something, you can feel that around the club but I also think you can feel that around the city and in the fan base.
”It feels like we are really together at the minute.”
Head-to-Head:
The sides haven’t met in over a century due to obvious reasons, with Lincoln City not long ago being a non-league club and Chelsea spending 37 consecutive seasons in the top flight.
Lincoln City have only gotten the better of Chelsea on one occasion, beating the Blues by a single goal away from home in an FA Cup clash back in 1907.
The other seven occasions resulted in five wins for the Premier League giants and two draws, all but one taking place in what is now League Two between 1905 and 1911.
Tomorrow’s clash marks a historic occasion for Lincoln City and a win would be the first against a Premier League side since the monumental 1-0 victory over Burnley in the fifth round of the FA Cup back in 2017.
Sean Raggett, who is now a centre-half for Rotherham United, scored the infamous goal that put them through to the Quarter-Finals.