Andre Villas-Boas
Chelsea's manager Villas-Boas gestures during their English Premier League match against Sunderland in Sunderland England. REUTERS REUTERS

Wednesday, 21 September

Chelsea v Fulham

Carling Cup third round

Stamford Bridge

Kick-off: 1945 BST

Where to watch: Highlights will be shown on The League Cup Show on Wednesday at 2320 BST. Live commentary is available on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Preview: Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas is expected to make wholesale changes to the side that lost at Old Trafford at the weekend for the visit of Fulham, Wednesday.

Didier Drogba is likely to make his return after being side-lined for three weeks with a head injury, with youngsters Josh McEachran, Romelu Lukaku and Oriol Romeu also set to start.

"It is a different approach," Villas-Boas said. "We want to win the most amount of trophies possible, but we have taken this approach to the League Cup to promote the youngsters.

"We have enough good players to try to win the trophy and we will try to give opportunities to players that have been used less.

"It's good for us that Fulham is the challenge because it's a Premier League team, so it gives us an idea of where we are and where we stand regarding the young players that we are trying to bring though."

Wednesday's encounter will be Fulham's 15th match of a young season, with manager Martin Jol looking to nurse his players through a hectic schedule.

Defender Aaron Hughes is absent with a hamstring injury, with Danny Murphy and Brede Hangeland likely to be rested.

Andrew Johnson, Bjorn Helge Riise and Simon Davies are also side-lined but deadline day signing Bryan Ruiz could make his second start of the season up front.