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Lincoln City vs. Chelsea, League Cup: Preview, team news, how to watch

The post-Club World Cup honeymoon is now well and truly over. Back-to-back defeats against Bayern Munich and Manchester United, the latter most egregious, have followed the last-second dropping of two points against Brentford. All the goodwill from the end of last season has been squandered and all the vibes from the summer harshed over the past week or so.

That may sound fickle, but it turns out that Enzo Maresca, Robert Sánchez, and others did not have as much credit built up as we might have imagined.

The nice thing about a busy schedule is that we don’t have to wait too long for the next opportunity to make things right. And opportunities don’t come much nicer than a cup game against lower-league opposition — even if we are going away and Lincoln City have been in excellent form to start the season.

Still, we’re gonna have to work for these cupcakes.

Date / Time: Tuesday, September 23, 2025, 19.45 BST; 2:45pm EDT; 12:15am IST (next day)
Venue: Sincil Bank, Lincoln, England
Referee: Matthew Donohue (on pitch); no VAR
Forecast: Cooling off

On TV: Sky Sports (UK); none (USA); none (India); SuperSport MaXimo 1 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: Sky Go (UK); Paramount+ (USA); FanCode (India); DStv Now (NGA)

Lincoln City team news: Lincoln City have never been higher than the second division in their entire 141-year history, and have not been higher than the third division since the 1960s. That is precisely where they find themselves currently, though if they keep up their early-season form, the Championship just might beckon at the end of the campaign. The Imps have lost just one of their 12 games played so far this season in all competitions, and are currently riding a ten-game unbeaten streak — including wins against Harrogate Town and Burton Albion in the first and second rounds of this competition, respectively.

Young head coach Michael Skubala, in his first job in management, is in his second full season; he led the team to an 11th-place finish last year. This will be his 99th game in charge; though he’s treating it (and looking to win it) just like any of the other 98 before it.

“[We’re going to] put a match plan together with a group of players with the idea to go out and win a game of football”

-Michael Skubala; source: The Linc

While none of their players have any over Chelsea connections (a relative rarity in the football pyramid), Skubala himself was in the dugout as a Leeds United assistant coach when they were beaten 1-0 at the Bridge in February 2023.

Stiker James Collins, one of several experienced veterans in the squad and a former Republic of Ireland international, paced The Imps with ten league goals last season after dropping down a division from Derby County in January. He already has five in all competitions this season.

Chelsea team news: As much as this game is an excellent opportunity to get back on the winning track, it’s a most excellent (and very much needed) opportunity to rest and rotate — or at least it should be. Enzo Maresca seemed to suggest that we lack the numbers in defense to do so; perhaps someone should show him a picture of Josh Acheampong.

“I would love to rest [Tosin and Chalobah] because they deserve to rest. The problem is that we have Wes, who is only playing after a long time out. Some of them need to play.”

-Enzo Maresca; source: Chelsea FC

We certainly should have the numbers elsewhere in the squad, to rest the likes of Moisés Caicedo, João Pedro, and Enzo Fernández, and give the day off to Cole Palmer while hoping that his groin problem doesn’t get elevated to something surgically serious.

Previously: This will be the ninth meeting all-time between the two sides, but the first since 1911, well over 100 years ago. We won five of the eight played back in those long ago days.