In my opinion Chelsea is the clear favorite of this game and I really can’t imagine any other result than the guests winning.

Chelsea don’t have chances for European Cups by league, they are not playing in Europe this season so they have huge motivation to win this cup, no doubts about that.

Both teams at the weekend played in the FA Cup. Middlesbrough played at home against Aston Villa and lost 0:1 by late goal, but they looked really toothless - only 5 shots and 0.29 expected goals scored. Chelsea played at home against Preston (they are just one point behind Middlesbrough in the Championship table) and recorded a fully deserved 4:0 win (expected goals scored for Chelsea 4.07, for Preston 0.35).

Chelsea have great depth in the squad and for example their best player in the current season (according to the ratings) Conor Gallagher played only 14 minutes against Preston and he is fresh and ready to go for today’s game.

Middlesbrough have serious squad problems before today’s game. They are without first goalkeeper Dieng, key central defender McNair, best assistant Crooks, striker Forss (2 goals and 2 assists), best scorer Lath and one of the best player (according to the ratings) Hackney. It's a huge blow and should have a very bad impact on the hosts performance today.

Middlesbrough lost their last two matches, both at home. For sure their confidence is not on the highest possible level. On the other hand Chelsea won in the last 3 consecutive matches and they want to go with momentum against depleted Middlesbrough.

在我看来，切尔西是这场比赛最受欢迎的球队，我真的无法想象除了客队获胜之外还有什么结果。

切尔西在联赛中没有机会参加欧洲杯，他们本赛季没有参加欧洲比赛，所以他们有很大的动力去赢得这个杯赛，这是毫无疑问的。

两支球队周末都参加了足总杯比赛。米德尔斯堡在主场对阵阿斯顿维拉的比赛中以0:1的比分输掉了比赛，但他们看起来真的毫无实力——只有5次射门和0.29个预期进球。切尔西在主场对阵普雷斯顿(他们在英冠积分榜上仅落后米德尔斯堡1分)，并以4:0的比分取得了当之无愧的胜利(切尔西的预期进球数为4.07，普雷斯顿为0.35)。

切尔西的阵容很有深度，比如他们本赛季最好的球员康纳·加拉格尔(根据评分)在对阵普雷斯顿的比赛中只打了14分钟，他很有活力，已经为今天的比赛做好了准备。

米德尔斯堡在今天的比赛前有严重的阵容问题。他们没有第一门将迪昂，关键中卫麦克奈尔，最佳助理克鲁克斯，前锋福斯(2球2助攻)，最佳射手拉斯和最佳球员之一哈克尼(根据评分)。这是一个巨大的打击，应该会对东道主今天的表现产生非常糟糕的影响。

米德尔斯堡输掉了最近两场比赛，都是在主场。可以肯定的是，他们的信心并没有达到最高水平。另一方面，切尔西在最近的3场比赛中取得了胜利，他们希望在对阵精疲力竭的米德尔斯堡的比赛中保持势头。