Capital One Cup final: 'Missing Matic won't matter for Chelsea'
In his regular BBC Sport column, Robbie Savage looks at Sunday's Capital One Cup final and explains why, despite Nemanja Matic's suspension and Tottenham's good form, he expects Chelsea to collect their first trophy of the season at Wembley.
Despite what Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho may say, his side are favourites to win Sunday's Capital One Cup final - and for good reason.
Mourinho claims Nemanja Matic's suspension gives Tottenham the upper hand, but that is ridiculous.
It suggests that Chelsea are a one-man team and they are clearly far from that.
Chelsea with and without Matic in 2014-15 | ||
|---|---|---|
| All competitions | With | Without |
Games
|
37
|
3
|
Wins
|
25
|
1
|
Draws
|
11
|
0
|
Defeats
|
1
|
2
|
Without him, they have lost two out of three - with defeats coming against Newcastle in the Premier League and that embarrassing defeat by Bradford in the FA Cup.
As I said on Match of the Day on Saturday, I have sympathy for Matic, who misses a cup final because of his reaction to the terrible Ashley Barnes tackle that could easily have sidelined him for seven or eight months.
His reaction was understandable, but you cannot do it, and he had to be sent off.
I look at him as the best defensive midfielder in the Premier League and his statistics back that up - he has made the most tackles in total and also the joint-second most tackles per game in that competition.
Premier League 2014-15 | |
|---|---|
| Most tackles | Most tackles per game (min. 10) |
Data: Opta
| |
1. Nemanja Matic (96)
|
1. Lucas Leiva (4.07)
|
2. Nathaniel Clyne (91)
|
=2. Pablo Zabaleta (3.84)
|
3. George Boyd (82)
|
=2. Nemanja Matic (3.84)
|
But he is not the only reason Chelsea are top of the table and well placed to progress in the Champions League, on top of their trip to Wembley on Sunday.
They have got two brilliant goalkeepers, are defensively well-drilled, brilliantly creative and hard working in midfield and ruthless up front.
Because John Mikel Obi is injured, it looks like Ramires will replace Matic against Spurs. Mourinho's only other options are inexperienced duo Nathan Ake and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Ramires does not have the same presence as Matic, but alongside Cesc Fabregas he will still form a very effective deeper midfield pairing.
Mourinho was only playing mind games ahead of the final with his comments, but saying that Chelsea are outsiders without Matic is not exactly a confidence booster for the Brazilian.
Maybe he should remind his manager that the game where Matic tasted defeat was when Spurs shocked Chelsea by putting five goals past them on New Year's Day.
Matic did not make the difference on that occasion.
Christian Eriksen pulled him all over the place to take him out of position, exposing Chelsea's lack of pace when John Terry and Gary Cahill are at centre-half.
Trying to do exactly the same again is Tottenham's best bet, which could lead to another very open game - there have been an average of more than four goals in each of their last seven meetings since 2012.
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