The Cherries travel to Chelsea for a mid-week Carabao Cup game at Stamford Bridge.

Eddie Howe’s side are one step away from the semi-finals and will be looking to go further in the competition than ever before, a feat that will be reached should the Cherries come away with victory.

Ahead of the clash, here are five points to look out for.

Cup run so far…

Chelsea, unlike the Cherries, entered the competition in the third round due to European commitments. They were first faced with a visit of Nottingham Forest to Stamford Bridge. A rousing 5-1 win, however, saw the Blues progress to the next round where they would go on to face Everton.

A tough game on paper certainly suggested it could go either way and a valiant effort from the Toffees certainly ran Chelsea close. Nevertheless, goals from Antonio Rudiger and Willian were enough to send the Blues through.

Last week’s results…

Despite a loss to West Ham earlier this month, Antonio Conte’s side have seemingly bounced back, having defeated Huddersfield 3-1 this time last week and followed it up with a 1-0 win over Southampton on Saturday.

With another home game on Wednesday, as was the case on the weekend, the Blues can be high in confidence from the clean sheet and tidy performance.

Blues rotation…

Antonio Conte looks likely to rotate his squad for tomorrow’s game, stating how he wants to give other players a chance in his pre-match press conference.

“I want to continue to give the chance to players that are not playing with regularity,” he claimed, later stating how he still wants to go further in the competition.

“I want to continue this way, but at the same time we want to reach the semi-final,” stated the Italian. 

League form…

Antonio Conte hasn’t quite reached the heights of last season’s incredible run to re-claiming the Premier League title.

Nevertheless, it was always going to be a tough challenge for the 48-year-old after such an achievement, with other clubs strengthening and this year’s Champions League demands.

However, the champions currently still lie third in the table, behind the two Manchester outfits, and could be level on points with second place by Christmas, should results go in their favour on the weekend.

First ever Carabao Cup semi-final?

The Cherries have never reached the semi-finals of the competition, so a win could be historic against Chelsea.

The game against the Blues is only the club’s second ever quarter final in this competition, after last reaching the quarters in 2015, where a valiant 1-0 defeat against Liverpool away saw us eliminated.

Lee Mason will be the man in the middle for the Cherries’ Carabao Cup quarter-final against Chelsea tomorrow evening.

It will mark the first time that he has refereed Eddie Howe’s side this season, but the second that he has officiated the Blues this term, having taken charge of their 2-1 win at Leicester.

The Cherries were last refereed by Mason on the final day of the 2016/17 season, in the 1-1 draw also with Leicester City, as the south-coast outfit finished ninth in the Premier League.

The 46-year-old has refereed a total of nine Premier League outings this season, alongside two Championship meetings, handing out 26 yellow cards, two red cards and awarding four penalties.

Tomorrow night, Mason will be assisted by Harry Lennard and Matthew Wilkes, with Mike Jones the fourth official.

On the pressure of the Carabao Cup and facing Chelsea...

We will feel pressure in that we need a positive response after Sunday. We had contrasting emotions from the Manchester United and Liverpool performances in quick succession, even though we lost both.

We need to make sure we leave Stamford Bridge with a positive mindset again.

You look at the Chelsea squad and who they have on the bench, they have strong players. I expect them to make some changes but they will still have a quality team.

On bouncing back from the Liverpool defeat...

You try and find positives in situations and when you produce a performance like that on the big stage you can sometimes feel energised by the challenges you face.

Days like that bring it home that we need a concerted effort on working together. It can be inspiring so that's how we're tackling the progress we need going forwards.

On learning from the setbacks...

We always reflect and analyse, not just the players but myself and the staff, with how we train and play, and in some ways it can make you more determined to do it your way.

We're not alien to change but sometimes days like Sunday reinforce that you need to do it your way but work harder and better.

I don't doubt the way we work and after Sunday we need to be even stronger with how we do that.

On his side's current Premier League battle...

The most recent campaign is always the most difficult. When it's happened and you're out of it you start to think it was quite comfortable but the reality was that it was very difficult at the time.

We can achieve whatever we want to achieve and Sunday's performance has reinforced our mindset in what we want to achieve.