Mauricio Pochettino has expressed confidence that Chelsea can progress to the final of the Carabao Cup this season, despite losing the first leg.

The Blues need to perform better than they did earlier this month, by getting a very good win against Middlesbrough when they meet at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, following defeat in the reverse fixture.

The hosts go into the clash without some of their key players, including Nicolas Jackson, who is currently away on AFCON duties with Senegal, as well as others like Malo Gusto, and Christopher Nkunku, who are both injured, but despite the setbacks, the Chelsea boss is confident his side can still make it to Wembley for the final.

“We feel very disappointed after the game [first-leg]. When you analyse the game, we deserved more,” Poch said at a press conference.

“But football sometimes isn’t like that. We were all disappointed but we have 90 minutes to fix the situation and try to win.

“It’s a passport to go to the final, to visit Wembley. It’s an important game for us. We want to be in the final but first of all we need to beat a very good team.

“In the first-leg, we could not beat them. We are confident we can have a very good game in front of our fans at Stamford Bridge. We need to take advantage of playing at Stamford Bridge.”