Chelsea vs AFC Wimbledon Predictions

• Chelsea have won 14 of their last 16 home League Cup ties
• AFC Wimbledon are unbeaten this season, scoring at least once in five of their six games
• Chelsea’s last five home League Cup ties against lower league opponents have featured five goals or more

Pochettino eager to build Blues momentum

Chelsea got their first victory under Mauricio Pochettino with a 3-0 victory over Luton last Friday and should quickly back that up with a high-scoring success against AFC Wimbledon.

The League Cup is a competition Chelsea tend to do well in, reaching at least the semi-finals in three of the last six seasons, and they may take it more seriously than usual this year with no European football to contend with.

Pochettino is still expected to mix up his squad a little bit with the likes of Lesley Ugochukwu, Noni Madueke and Ian Maatsen pushing for starts.

If Maatsen gets the nod, he may be an interesting anytime goalscorer prospect having scored twice in pre-season after being pushed further up the field by Pochettino.

Determined Dons may have something to cheer

The Blues don’t tend to suffer too many cup upsets and have comfortably seen off the majority of lower league opponents at Stamford Bridge.

AFC Wimbledon will do well to avoid a sizeable defeat, although they can take heart from an excellent start to the season in League Two.

They sit fifth after an unbeaten start, while they came from behind to knock out last season’s Championship play-off finalists Coventry in the first round of the League Cup.

They’ve netted in all but one of their six outings this season with James Tilley scoring four times in the league and they may get opportunities to grab a consolation against a Chelsea defence that’s managed one clean sheet in the last 14 games.