VS 
VENUE: The Stadium Of Light,Sunderland SR5 1SU
MATCH LINKS: http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?...45&part=sports
TEAM NEWS
Sunderland midfielder Jack Colback will miss Tuesday night's League Cup tie against Chelsea because of illness.
Goalkeeper Keiren Westwood and defender Carlos Cuellar are the only injured senior players in the squad.
Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic is suspended so Cesar Azpilicueta will switch to right-back, with Ashley Cole recalled at left-back.
Manager Jose Mourinho is likely to make a number of changes with Monday's Premier League game at Arsenal in mind.
MATCH PREVIEW
Sunderland manager Gus Poyet will be confident of his team scoring some goals against a leaky Chelsea defence which is currently so poor,even Crystal Palace's fumbling misfit,Marouane Chamakh can score past it.
Less than a fortnight after being split by the odd goal in seven in the Premier League, Sunderland and Chelsea go head-to-head again with a cup semi-final at stake.
Both managers praised their team's performance after Chelsea's 4-3 win at the Stadium of Light earlier in the month.
But Gus Poyet and Jose Mourinho have since been lacking in festive cheer, with Poyet admitting to not enjoying his task at bottom-of-the-table Sunderland, and Mourinho bemoaning his side's defensive shortcomings and profligacy in front of goal.
Sunderland are guaranteed to be bottom of the league at Christmas and Poyet is hoping for a notable cup win to kickstart their campaign.
"I need to take these games seriously," he said. "In the last round against Southampton, we played well and we went on to win [in the league] against Man City. Let's see if we can repeat that and do well and then beat Norwich.
"Hopefully it's not a crazy game like before, hopefully it's normal. And if we score three we will win the game."
Mourinho stated at the weekend that he doesn't believe Chelsea are "big contenders for any competition" but he won the League Cup twice in his first spell at the club and his side are joint favourites with Manchester City to lift the trophy in March (**** knows why)
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
Chelsea have won their last nine trips to Sunderland in all competitions and are unbeaten in 10 at the Stadium of Light.
The Blues won 4-3 at the Stadium of Light in the league earlier this month.
The only previous League Cup tie between these clubs came in the 1984-85 semi-finals; Sunderland won both legs for an aggregate 5-2 victory. I was at both legs and it was a bit lively in both.
There have been three own goals scored in the last two meetings between Sunderland and Chelsea.
Sunderland
Sunderland are appearing in the quarter-finals of this competition for the seventh time, and first since losing to Crystal Palace in 2000-01.
This is their fourth consecutive home tie in the League Cup this season. They beat Southampton in the last round.
The Black Cats are winless in their last five matches.
Chelsea
Chelsea 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.
They have kept three successive League Cup clean sheets, all away from home.
The Blues have managed eight clean sheets in their last 12 away games in this competition.
Jose Mourinho has never lost a League Cup game as Chelsea manager (excluding penalty shootouts), winning 12 and drawing three of 15.
Making a thread takes me ages so if anyone can give me any tips I would appreciate it!
Fernando Torres is still unoffically very shit!
Again seems strange to be doing a Sunderland vs Chelsea thread and not see DMW in it again :(
Prediction: Another tough game for us but I think we will scrape through,possibly after extra time. Mourinho will be busting a gut to win this trophy. It might be the only one we have a realistic chance of this season!