Chelsea could match an all-time English football record when they meet Middlesbrough in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final showdown at the Riverside Stadium on Tuesday.
The Blues have seen off AFC Wimbledon, Brighton & Hove Albion, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United to reach the final four of the competition, sinking the Magpies on penalties in the quarters after a dramatic 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Despite their indifferent Premier League fortunes, Mauricio Pochettino's side are still fighting for knockout success on two fronts this season, having eliminated Preston North End from the FA Cup with a dominant 4-0 win on Saturday.
Should the Blues get the better of Boro over two legs this month - with the second due to take place at Stamford Bridge on January 23 - either Liverpool or Fulham will await Pochettino's men for the showpiece match at Wembley on February 25.
With Middlesbrough competing outside of the Premier League since the 2017-18 season, Chelsea have only met their upcoming hosts once in the past six years, although they eased to a 2-0 FA Cup quarter-final win over the Championship club in the 2021-22 campaign.
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That triumph represented a ninth win in a row for Chelsea against Middlesbrough across all competitions, during which time the Blues have remarkably kept nine clean sheets against the Riverside outfit.
Should the Blues pick up a win on Tuesday without conceding a goal, they will become just the second-ever English team to beat a single opponent 10 times in a row with 10 clean sheets in tow.
The only previous side to achieve such a sensational streak were Liverpool, who defeated West Bromwich Albion 10 times without shipping one goal between 1997 and 2010.
Not since the second weekend of the 2006-07 Premier League season have Boro beaten or scored against Chelsea, earning a 2-1 win under Gareth Southgate thanks to goals from Emmanuel Pogatetz and Mark Viduka after an Andriy Shevchenko opener.
The two sides are also no stranger to meeting one another in the latter stages of the EFL Cup, having locked horns in the final of the 1997-98 edition, where Chelsea won 2-0 in extra time as Frank Sinclair and Roberto Di Matteo made the net bulge.
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Tuesday's game will mark the first time since the 2003-04 campaign that Middlesbrough have competed in an EFL Cup semi-final, but they overcame Chelsea's London rivals Arsenal over two legs that year before defeating Bolton Wanderers in the final.
Meanwhile, Chelsea have advanced from three of their last four semi-final ties and are on a 15-game winning streak against lower-league sides in the EFL Cup, notching 15 goals along the way.
Pochettino has been handed an untimely new injury concern ahead of Tuesday's first leg, though, as Christopher Nkunku missed the win over Preston with a hip issue and is now a doubt for the trip to the Riverside.
The Blues are already working without Nicolas Jackson while he represents Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations, meaning that Armando Broja could be given the nod at the tip of the attack again.
Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Romeo Lavia, Marc Cucurella, Robert Sanchez, Trevoh Chalobah, Lesley Ugochukwu and the cup-tied Andrey Santos will also miss the first leg, while Ben Chilwell, Carney Chukwuemeka and Benoit Badiashile will need assessing in the coming hours.
Ben Knapton
