Blackburn Rovers travel to Stamford Bridge with no expectations. The pressure is on Chelsea.

As when they visited the London Stadium and the King Power Stadium last season, Jon Dahl Tomasson's side will be huge underdogs. Even more so, against the Blues.

Although Chelsea have struggled in the Premier League so far and have an important game against Tottenham Hotspur on the horizon, Mauricio Pochettino is not taking the Carabao Cup lightly. The likes of Reece James, Raheem Sterling and Conor Gallagher could all start on Wednesday night.

But if Rovers want to get back into the big time, as they're trying to do this season, nights like these are great preparation. As Tomasson has said himself, it's a good marker for which of his players can step up a level.

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There will be changes to the Rovers team, with top-scorer Sam Szmodics not travelling to the Capital, but the away side are not going to make up the numbers, they'll be expected to compete with 3,000 away fans roaring them on.

Under Tony Mowbray and beforehand, the cup contests were an inconvenience. Whilst still taking the chance to rest key players, Tomasson has added value to them once again.

Avoiding embarrassing upsets against Walsall and Harrogate Town is the cornerstone to any memorable run in the knock-out competitions. Go out early and you forfeit the chance to hope for a magical tie against a Premier League big boy.

Sondre Tronstad will be one of the most experienced players in the squad travelling down to Stamford Bridge at the age of 28. Having played in big European nights, he's hoping Rovers rise to the challenge.

“It’s a really nice game to look forward to and a big challenge,” Tronstad said. Chelsea are Chelsea, but they’re not the best Chelsea we’ve seen at the moment.

“We’re looking forward to it and it will be nice for the fans to travel down and maybe get ourselves a good result. These kind of games are the games you want to play. It’s the same for the supporters, they want to watch their team against the big teams.

“It’ll be under the lights and it will be perfect. You can see where the level is between yourselves and the best league in the world. I’ve played against Tottenham before and I know what that’s like a little bit, I am looking forward to it.

"For me, everyone wants to play. Whether it's the cup, the league, I want to play in every game. I want to continue that."

At the other end of the age range, for Andrew Moran, the competition has particularly fond memories. He made his debut in the Carabao Cup for Brighton & Hove Albion against Cardiff City in 2021.

He scored twice in the last round against the Bluebirds, this time for Rovers, and is likely to get the chance to rekindle the relationship at Stamford Bridge.

“It was my second season at Brighton, so it was probably a bit earlier than I would have expected,” he said.

“I think I was still 17 when it happened. A few of the lads were training with the first team the day before, so we thought there might be a chance that we’d travel up.

“Even just to be on the bench, when I found out, I was buzzing. To get the nod to be going on, it was some feeling. It was really good.

“Obviously I’d played men’s football back in Ireland, but this was at a much higher level, against Championship opposition.

“I remember one of my first touches I got smashed in a tackle, so that was a bit of a welcome to men’s football!

“My dad actually flew over, somehow, because there were no flights! Because he only found out last minute, I think he went all the way up to Belfast, a two-and-a-half-hour drive, to get the boat over or something stupid like that, so he made the trip over.”