Lincoln City vs Chelsea: Confirmed team news for Carabao Cup third round tie

Enzo Maresca has named his Chelsea side to face Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup third round.

Chelsea's 2025/26 Carabao Cup campaign gets underway on Tuesday night as they travel to Lincolnshire.

Lincoln City pose a real threat to Chelsea, heading into the tie with nothing to lose and everything to gain, and will be buoyed on by their positive start to the League One campaign which sees them currently in third place.

Chelsea are without Levi Colwill, Benoit Badiashile, Romeo Lavia, Dario Essugo and Liam Delap for Tuesday night's clash.

Pre-match, Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca admitted he would rather face a fellow Premier League side than Lincoln. He said: “Personally, I would prefer to play against a Premier League team rather than a League One team because these are the kind of games that worry me most because you can underestimate the opposition."

LNER Stadium, Lincoln — Chelsea will be backed by around 1,800 supporters at Lincoln. | IMAGO / PRiME Media Images

As expected, Maresca has made a whole host of changes, including Filip Jorgensen starting in goal for the visitors, with Robert Sanchez suspended after his red card against Manchester United.

Up for the Carabao Cup! 👊🔵 pic.twitter.com/DaTQQEoD1T
— Absolute Chelsea (@AbsoluteChelsea) September 23, 2025

Here are the confirmed teams from the LNER Stadium for the Carabao Cup tie between Lincoln City and Chelsea.

Lincoln City

Starting XI: Jeacock, Darikwa, Montsma, Towler, McGrandles, Bradley, Street, House, Hamer, Varfolomeev, Draper

Bench: Wickens, Reach, Hackett, Bayliss, Collins, Thorn, Ring, Okoronkwo, Obikwu

Chelsea

Starting XI: Jorgensen, Gusto, Fofana, Chalobah, Hato, Fernandez (c), Santos, Garnacho, Buonanotte, Gittens, George

Bench: Slonina, Cucurella, James, Caicedo, Harrison, Walsh, Estevao, Neto, Mheuka