After thumping Preston North End 4-0 in the third round of the FA Cup last weekend, there was an expectation that Chelsea would come away from their League Cup semi-final first leg against Middlesbrough with a healthy lead.

Instead, Mauricio Pochettino's men carried on their habit of being consistently inconsistent and fell to a shock 1-0 defeat at the Riverside. While a couple of players were missing due to injury and AFCON commitments, the former Tottenham Hotspur manager did field a strong team, so heading into the second leg needing a goal is far from ideal.

That said, the Blues have a chance to redeem themselves this weekend when they host their west London neighbours in a derby that they won just a few months ago.

One man likely to return to the starting lineup for this clash is Mykhailo Mudryk, as he scored against the Cottagers in the reverse fixture, as did the other forward who should be starting in place of the AFCON-occupied Nicolas Jackson – Armando Broja.

Amando Broja's record vs Fulham

Broja's record against the Blue's nearest rivals isn't impressive for the number of goals he has scored or the assists he's provided because, well, the Albanian has only played the Cottagers once in his entire career, which was back in October.

It is impressive because he scored in that game, a game which also happened to be his first start for the club in almost a year, 324 days, to be precise.

He marked the occasion with a brilliant toe-poke goal that secured the Pensioners all three points – granted, he missed a sitter earlier in the game, but people only remember the goals.

He didn't hide his relief when speaking to the club's media department after the match, saying: "It's been a long time coming. I've been out for a while so it's good to be back."

It wasn't just the goal that was impressive, though, as he also registered an expected goals figure of 0.43, succeeded in two of his three dribbles, maintained a passing accuracy of 77% and won 4 of his six ground duels per Sofascore.

Amando Broja's season by numbers

While the 22-year-old has struggled for minutes and starts throughout the first half of the season, he has had impressive moments, and given the number of chances that Jackson has been missing, he might be justified in feeling a little hard done by.

For example, in his six starts across all competitions, the "clinical" forward, as labelled by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has scored two non-penalty goals from a non-penalty expected goals figure of 2.1, meaning that he is scoring as much as he would be expected to given the chances he receives.

Goals

2

Non-Penalty Expected Goals

2.1

Progressive Carries per 90

2.33

Progressive Passes Received

6.98

Shots per 90

2.31

Successful Take-Ons per 90

2.09

All Stats via FBref for the 2023/24 Season

Moreover, he is completing 2.33 progressive carries per 90, receiving 6.98 progressive passes himself and completing 2.09 successful take-ons per 90, suggesting that when he is on the pitch, he is actively contributing to the team and trying to make things happen – as he did at Craven Cottage.

If he has been able to produce numbers like that from just six starts and a handful of short appearances off of the bench, he surely deserves the opportunity to start on Saturday, and based on Pochettino claiming that his "potential is amazing" following the game against Preston he might just get that chance.

With the Blues' front line coming up short in midweek, both Broja and Mudryk – who scored on his last Premier League outing against Crystal Palace – should be given the chance to terrorise Marco Silva's men from the off, having made the difference the last time the two sides met.