For the first time since the 2016-2017 Carabao Cup final, a team other than Manchester City will be crowned champions on Sunday as Chelsea and Liverpool aim to break their 6 year and 10 year droughts in this competition respectively. It’s the European and now World champions taking on one of England’s most dominant and in-form sides who are coming off of a 6-0 hammering of Leeds United in their midweek clash. Within this final, there are many sub-plots to embrace and enjoy, as Klopp and Tuchel face off, will Lukaku be recalled to the side despite his sub-par performances of late, will Salah continue his incredible run of form and individual battles in almost every area of the pitch. It’s an exciting clash between sides that have potentially disregarded the competition in recent years, however there’s no doubting that they both are desperate to win this game, take the trophy and bragging rights and give their side a huge boost going into the final run in of the Premier League season.

The last time both sides met in a cup final, was the 2012 FA Cup final in which Chelsea, with Drogba netting the winner, left Wembley victorious. Since that time, Liverpool have been revitalised, with only Jordan Henderson remaining from that side, while Chelsea have remained their stature in the game and their side has undergone several ‘transformations’ with plenty of money spent in the process. Both teams have had to fight to earn their place in the final, facing tough opponents in the semi-final, and despite the games appearing tough on paper, both Chelsea and Liverpool breezed past any obstacles put in place from Tottenham and Arsenal. So, this brings us to the final, Sunday the 27th of January, the first domestic silverware up for grabs and both sides in great form and looking strong. It’s likely to be a great game to wrap up the weekend’s football, as both teams will be attack minded, efficient if given chances in front of goal and eager to one-up their league rivals. Whereas many of the previous Carabao Cup finals have been meagre affairs, with Manchester City often turning domestic cup finals into a mere training session, this one could go either way and could turn feisty as both coaches get fired up for big games and there are some superstar talents with something to prove in the game.

Form

Of course, going into this game, their Carabao Cup form has been solid, easing past their respective semi-final opponents with little/no difficulty. On their way to the final, Chelsea started off with a few hiccups, as they needed penalties to edge past Aston Villa and Southampton, but since then, their cup run has been immaculate, making light work of Brentford and then close rivals Tottenham across both legs. In all competitions, they have lost just once in 2022 to Manchester City which of course is something all sides must face at some point. Their year already contains silverware with their impressive Club World Cup victory. The current World champions will head into Sunday after giving themselves a great start in the Champions League knockout rounds, taking a 2-0 lead into their second leg against Lille, and this clearly has the Blues full of confidence and raring to go for the Carabao Cup final.

Meanwhile, Liverpool had to wait until their second leg against Arsenal to get the victory as they faced a resolute defensive performance from Arteta’s 10-man Arsenal side in the first. They also scraped through the quarter-final on penalties against Leicester City, however beating the reigning FA Cup holders in the quarter-final and Arsenal in the semi will give them great confidence for a result on Sunday. Liverpool’s form in all competitions has been spotless as they have gone unbeaten in 2022 thus far, including some impressive victories over Inter Milan, Arsenal and Wednesday’s hammering of Leeds United. They have picked up solid results while missing key players Salah and Mane for the majority of the year. With their star men ready for Sunday, they will be firing on all cylinders as they will look to press and attack Chelsea from the outset.

Team News

Both sides appear at this stage to be able to almost field their strongest sides, with both clubs escaping any further potential injury setbacks in their midweek games. For Chelsea, the biggest selection dilemma remains what to do with Lukaku. The £100million man was left on the bench for their Champions League fixture and failed to set the world alight with a non-existent performance against Crystal Palace in their last league game. If Tuchel has faith in his player, he will likely be a starter, given a job of irritating Van Dijk and making things difficult at the back for Liverpool. Elsewhere in the team, things are looking promising for Mason Mount who returned as an unused sub against Lille, while Reece James is expected to be available for selection once again after a long lay off with injury, although Ben Chilwell remains unavailable.

For Liverpool, it’s almost a clean bill of health, with concerns over both striking options in Jota and Firmino, who both were left out of their midweek league game with Leeds, but could be reintroduced for Sunday all being well. It’s obviously a risk that they might end up going into the final without a recognised central striker, however as we saw from Liverpool’s 6-0 demolition of Leeds, they have a great alternative of Salah-Mane-Díaz with Mane taking a central role, or even an ability to switch around mid-game depending on the success against Chelsea’s likely back 3/5. Other than this conundrum, Klopp’s side will pretty much pick itself, with only a possible question of, if everyone is available, does Luis Díaz force his way into the front three. It’s not a bad dilemma to have, but something Klopp will have to consider sooner or later.

Predictions

It’s so close to call in this final, both sides have previously disregarded the Carabao Cup in favour of the bigger European or domestic trophies, but have no doubt, they both will be wanting this title. It’s a battle of manager vs manager also, as these two have some history and will want to take bragging rights as well as the title. With both sides fairly in form, it will likely come down to a single goal that edges it either way. I could see this one going to extra-time and possibly penalties, however my personal prediction is that we see plenty of goals in this as both attacking forces put on a spectacle (maybe I’m just wishful thinking). I think it will be over inside 90 minutes, with a late goal settling it in Liverpool’s favour in perhaps either a 3-2 or more realistically 2-1 win for Klopp’s side.

Prediction: Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool