The what: League Cup, Round 3 – Chelsea v. Newcastle
The where: Stamford Bridge (41,841)
The when: September 22, 7:45pm local time (2:45 EST)
The how: Fox Soccer Plus - delayed coverage from 5pm EST (DirecTV 621, Dish Network 406)
The why: Simple. Because there is absolutely no reason to suggest we cannot win the quad.
The referee: Phil Dowd

Old. And young.

The stat: Chelsea have won each of their four previous ties against Newcastle in this competition. The most recent, a 1-0 away win in the fifth round (2006).

Newcastle —
Position: 6 (7 points)
League Form: LWDLW
Team (projected XI): Krul; Taylor, Tavernier, Campbell, Kadar, Donaldson, Vuckic, Ferguson, Lovenkrands, Ameobi, Ranger.
Doubtful: Best (ankle)
Injured: Harper (shoulder), Simpson (ankle), Guthrie (knee), Taylor (shoulder), Gosling (knee)
Suspended: None
Leading scorer: Carroll 4
Quote: "Nothing is easy in life, so we have to roll our sleeves up and get on with it. The main thing is being out there and smelling the environment of a football arena again. We have to be mindful of what they have done already but we have to go there with the best plan. I just want to get out there now. It is a great game for us against one of the best teams in the world." -Sol Campbell

Shola Ameobi and Peter Lovenkrands are expected to lead the line, while Sol Campbell, 61, is primed to make his debut for club. Dude's ancient.

Sol, who made his competitive footballing debut against Chelsea a bagful of decades ago, has already had a little taste of the Chels this season. He trotted our for the reserves in a 3-2 loss to the Blues last week at St. James' Park. A last-minute penalty from Adam Philip did the business on that night. I do hope that won't be the case Wednesday.

Two old Chelsea boys.

CFC —
Position: 1 (15 points)
League Form: WWWWW
Team (projected XI): Turnbull; Ferreira, Terry, Bruma, Van Aanholt, Ramires, Benayoun, Zhirkov, Kakuta, Kalou, Sturridge
Doubtful: Lampard (groin)
Injured: Bosingwa (fitness)
Suspended: None
Leading scorer: Malouda 6
Quote: "A lot of my family were (Newcastle) supporters too and we had season tickets when we were younger so I'll be looking forward to the game. Everyone likes to play against their boyhood team, so I'm looking forward to it. They seem to have done fine since they've been back up in the Premier League. I look for their results but my interest doesn't go much further than that anymore, and I'm sure they will have a good season." -Ross Turnbull

Youth. What else need be said?

Projected XI (again)
Turnbull
Ferreira-EBALJT-Bruma-Van Aanholt
Benayoun-Ramires-Zhirkov
Kalou-Sturridge-Kakuta

KTBFFH