Cardiff City vs Chelsea: Prediction, Lineups & Odds (16/12/25)

League One outfit Cardiff City welcome Premier League giants Chelsea to the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday night for the Carabao Cup quarter final.

Our Three Predictions For Cardiff City vs Chelsea

• First Prediction: Chelsea To Win – 1/5
• Second Prediction: Both Teams To Score – 23/20
• Third Prediction: Over 2.5 Goals – 8/15

First Prediction For Cardiff City vs Chelsea – Chelsea To Win – 1/5

Cardiff head into this in a rich vein of form, having won 5 league games in succession. This has seen them move to the top of League One as they target a return to the Championship at the first time of asking.

The Carabao Cup has given the Bluebirds a reprieve from their league antics and they head into this quarter final clash at the EFL club. They dispatched of lower league opposition in the first 2 rounds, beating Swindon Town and Cheltenham Town.

Since then, the Welsh-based outfit have taken the scalps of Premier League outfit Burnley before earning bragging rights against Wrexham in the previous round.

Chelsea will provide a much sterner test here though. The current World Champions secured their place in the quarter final by edging past Wolverhampton Wanderers (4-3) in the previous round, but did survive a scare in September.

Cardiff’s League One promotion rivals Lincoln City hosted Enzo Maresca’s team in September and looked on course for an upset when Rob Street gave the Imps a 1-0 lead. However, two moments of brilliance in the second half from Tyrique George and Facundo Buonanotte eventually secured the victory.

Second Prediction For Cardiff City vs Chelsea – Both Teams To Score – 23/20

Bolton Wanderers were the last team to stop Cardiff scoring back in October, but only Burton Albion have left the Cardiff City Stadium with a clean sheet this season. A much-changed Chelsea side will offer the Bluebirds hope that they can keep up their goalscoring form here.

Keeping Chelsea at bay will be a much sterner task though. Even with a host of their first team stars set to drop to at least the substitutes bench, their starting XI will still possess a host of big money talent.

Despite that, the Blues have conceded 4 times in 2 games in this competition. This includes the 1 they shipped against Lincoln, and they were perhaps lucky to have not lost as the Imps spurned a number of chances.

Third Prediction For Cardiff City vs Chelsea – Over 2.5 Goals – 8/15

The pair have played 6 games between them in this competition thus far, with all of them producing at least 3 goals. Cardiff have scored 9 times in their 4 outings thus far, whilst Chelsea have hit 6 in 2.

Looking at the Bluebirds’ league form, they head into this on the back of a 4-3 win over Doncaster Rovers. Their 4 home outings prior to that were also high scoring affairs, where they beat Huddersfield Town (3-2), Mansfield Town (3-0), Reading (2-1) and Leyton Orient (4-3).

Chelsea haven’t been free scoring in the Premier League, but stretching this out to their antics in the Carabao Cup and Champions League, with 5 of their 6 fixtures in Europe producing plenty of goals.

Best Odds For Cardiff City vs Chelsea

Full Preview Of The Game: Last Results And Head-To-Head:

Cardiff have enjoyed an excellent season so far, losing just 4 league games all season. A 4-3 victory over Doncaster Rovers on Saturday was their fifth successive League One victory and they now sit 4 points clear at the top of the division.

The Bluebirds have enjoyed an excellent run in this competition, beating Swindon Town (2-1), Cheltenham Town (3-0), Burnley (2-1) and Wrexham (2-1) to set up this clash with the Premier League giants.

Chelsea are having an indifferent campaign, although ended a run of 3 league games without a win on Saturday when they secured a 2-0 triumph over Everton. They sit fourth in the top tier as a result but are still 8 points behind leaders Arsenal.

As is customary with Premier League clubs, the Blues have used the Carabao Cup to heavily rotate their squad. Due to their European exploits, the entered the competition at the third round stage when they were drawn away to Lincoln City.

It was a tough night for Enzo Maresca and he may have feared the worst when the Imps went in a goal to the good at half time. The League One outfit thoroughly deserved their lead and despite 2 second half goals from the visitors, Michael Skubala’s team were unlucky to bow out.

It was the same story in the fourth round when Chelsea visited relegation-bound Wolverhampton Wanderers. Although they raced into a 3-goal lead, they let their hosts back into the tie before eventually securing a 4-3 win.

Chelsea have won the past 5 meetings between the pair, which includes all 4 of their Premier League clashes. This is their first League Cup encounter since 1986, which is coincidentally their last victory over the Blues.

Overall, the Premier League side have won 20 of the previous 45 meetings between the 2, with Cardiff winning 15. They have played out 10 draws, the last of which came in 1984. However, this tie will be settled on the night, with penalties to be taken if the scores end level.

Confrontation

16/12/2025

League Cup League Cup

Cardiff

Chelsea

1

3

Last Results - Cardiff

10/01/2026

League One League One

Leyton Orient

Cardiff

1

1

D

04/01/2026

League One League One

Cardiff

Wigan

1

0

W

01/01/2026

League One League One

Wycombe

Cardiff

1

1

D

29/12/2025

League One League One

Cardiff

Stevenage

2

1

W

26/12/2025

League One League One

Cardiff

Exeter

1

0

W

Last Results - Chelsea

14/01/2026

League Cup League Cup

Chelsea

Arsenal

2

3

L

10/01/2026

FA Cup FA Cup

Charlton

Chelsea

1

5

W

07/01/2026

Premier League Premier League

Fulham

Chelsea

2

1

L

04/01/2026

Premier League Premier League

Manchester City

Chelsea

1

1

D

30/12/2025

Premier League Premier League

Chelsea

Bournemouth

2

2

D

Where To Watch Cardiff City vs Chelsea

Where can I watch this game, either in person or on TV?

• Location: Cardiff City Stadium, Leckwith Road, Cardiff, CF11 8AZ
• Date: December 16th, 2025
• TV Channel: Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football, Sky Sports Ultra HDR

Probable Lineups For Cardiff City vs Chelsea

Predicted Cardiff City Lineup

• Lineup: Trott; Ng, Fish, Chambers, Bagan; Wintle, Robertson; Ashford, Turnbull; Willock, Salech
• Injured/Suspended: R.Colwill, Osho, Tanner, Kellyman (ineligible)
• Manager: Brian Barry-Murphy

Predicted Chelsea Lineup

• Lineup: Jorgensen; Acheampong, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Hato; Caicedo, Santos; Gittens, Buonanotte, Garnacho; George
• Injured/Suspended: Colwill, Essugo, Lavia, Delap, Murdyk (suspended), Cucurella (suspended)
• Manager: Enzo Maresca

Media Centre – News About Cardiff City vs Chelsea

Tweets by CardiffCityFC