Carlisle Preview! (Sorry it's so late)

In around an hour and fifteen minutes, Chesterfield will play Cumbria side Carlisle United in the first round of this year's League Cup, or Capital One Cup. If you're wondering why iv'e left the preview to this late, it's because when i was set to write it this morning, my internet decided to start acting up. Again. So yeah, blame my Wi-Fi not me.



Carlisle are in League Two, and played our bitter rivals Mansfield this weekend, and only managed to get a 1-1 draw, so hopefully this means we can have an easy win! In all seriousness though, Carlisle won't be a pushover tonight. In pre-season they managed an impressive 4-3 win over Preston North end, and they also managed to beat Oldham Athletic 3-1 later that week. During pre-season they were one of the busiest teams in the transfer market. They brought in twelve new players, including midfielder Jason Kennedy, from League One side Bradford. They also had thirteen departures from the club. The most notable being Kyle Dempsey, who was bought by Championship side Huddersfield for £300,000.

Saunders has a full squad to pick from tonight, however he may give right back Drew Talbot a rest, as he is still returning to full fitness, so Saunders may want to keep him for the tough test against Sheffield United this Saturday. Gnanduillet may be given a game tonight after his brilliant pre-season, but he may struggle to push Ebanks-Blake out of the team, as he had a brilliant match against Barnsley at the weekend, scoring one and assisting two. Dan Jones, Jay O'Shea, Sam Morsy and Gboly Ariyibi are all available tonight and very likely to start after great performances on Saturday. Saunders could possibly give young midfielder Onovwigun a go tonight, as we aren't up against the strongest of oppositions, and Ollie Banks played rather poor on Saturday against Barnsley.

Carlisle manager, Keith Curle, also has a fully fit squad ahead of the game tonight. Jabo Ibehre is likely to start after scoring against Mansfield at the weekend, and he will probably be partnered by Ghanaian striker Derek Asamoah. The two have over 25 years of combined experience, and use a mix of strength and pace to ply open lower league defenses.

Biggest Threat: Jabo Ibehre



The Nigerian striker is a giant of a man, standing at 6'4 tall. He has experience playing for teams such as Walsall, Leyton Orient and MK Dons. Last season he was classed as a Colchester player, however he spent the majority of the season out on loan at Oldham and Barnsley. He knows how to move the ball around, has a good shot on him, has great strength and due to his height he is very dangerous in the air. With players such as Gary Dicker, Antony Sweeney and Danny Kearns in midfield, and former Shrewsbury forward Derek Asamoah partnering him up top, he is sure to get some decent service.

Predicted result: Carlisle 1-3 Spireites

After a fantastic start to the season on Saturday, I think we will be full of confidence going into the match and should be looking to score plenty of goals. If the midfield plays as well as they did at the weekend, and Ebanks Blake can put in a good shift, we should have no problem winning against a League Two side. However, I do think Carlisle will score at least one, with the quality they have going forward.