Lincoln vs Chelsea Prediction: George offers value to score

Lincoln City secured a brilliant 3-1 victory over Luton Town in League 1 on Saturday, with Justin Obikwu scoring in the 85th minute, before Ben House grabbed his second with 90 on the clock to put the game out of reach for the Hatters. 

Next up, they face a Chelsea outfit (19:45, Sky Sports+), that were poor in their 2-1 defeat to Manchester United and will be looking to bounce back in style here. Below you can find my Lincoln vs Chelsea predictions.

Team News

Lincoln boss Michael Skubala is likely to name a strong team for this cup test, with most of the starting XI against Luton set to be involved. Coventry City loanee Obikwu came off the bench and had a big impact so could be in line for a start against a Premier League outfit, although he will have to battle his way past one of Freddie Draper or James Collins to make it into the XI. 

Skubala has operated with a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1 recently and so it will be interesting to see how aggressive he is on home soil against a Premier League outfit. Conor McGrandles and Tom Bayliss should feature at the heart of the midfield, while Sonny Bradley and Adam Reach offer vast experience in the back four. 

Football Odds

We can expect a raft of changes from Chelsea, while Robert Sanchez is suspended after his red card at Old Trafford so Filip Jorgensen will deputise in goal. Jorrel Hato and Josh Acheampong should be given starts in defence, while Alejandro Garnacho should also feature having been left as an unused substitute against his former club.

Given they were taken off so early on Saturday, Estevao and Pedro Neto could start this one, although Cole Palmer is unlikely to be risked as he continues to recover from the injury that ruled him out of the first few weeks of the season. Marc Guiu is cup-tied having played and scored in this competition for Sunderland already and Liam Delap is injured, so Tyrique George should start as the number nine, while Moises Caicedo may be forced to play given Romeo Lavia and Dario Essugo are both out injured. 

Lincoln vs Chelsea Odds

Lincoln are priced at 14/1 to win this tie in 90 minutes, with Chelsea at 1/5. That gives the Club World Cup winners an implied win probability of 83%, while a draw which would force penalties is 6/1. 

Over 2.5 goals is 4/9, BTTS is 11/10 and Joao Pedro is the favourite to score first at 10/3, although both he and Palmer are likely to be rested.

Price Boost - Tyrique George to score first @ 11/2

With a distinct lack of other forward options, 19-year-old George is near-certain to start having featured in the last three Premier League matches. Delap is out with a hamstring issue, Guiu is cup-tied and Joao Pedro needs a rest, so I think we can be fairly confident in backing George to lead the line. 

He proved himself to be an excellent goalscorer in the youth teams, scoring 20 times in total in 2023/24, bagging eight of those for the U21s despite being just 17. Now he has progressed into the first team and Enzo Maresca clearly likes him given the amount of Premier League action he has seen at such a tender age. Against League 1 opposition, he will fancy his chances of making his mark, so let’s take advantage of this Price Boost on offer. 

Chelsea to win and BTTS @ 7/4 

I will back Chelsea to win this game based on their immense quality and squad depth which is a useful side effect of spending £1bn on new players over the course of a few years. The fact we are talking about somebody like Garnacho starting this game shows how much depth Chelsea have right now and Lincoln are unlikely to be able to cause a shock, even on home soil. 

But the Imps are a good team this term and so I think it makes sense to back them to break the Chelsea defence. Lincoln are unbeaten in their 10 matches in all competitions, winning three of their last four, and they’ve scored in 11 of the 12 matches they’ve played in 2025/26.

An attacking force to be reckoned with, I reckon they can land a blow on Chelsea, even though a defeat is the most likely outcome.

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