EFL Cup

[monks data]

EFL Cup | Final

Feb 25, 2024 at 3pm UK

Stamford Bridge

Chelsea
0 - 1
Liverpool

Chilwell (45+3'), Palmer (120+2')

FT
(aet)

van Dijk (118')
Bradley (45+3'), Mac Allister (81'), Konate (82'), McConnell (107'), Gomez (120+3')

EFL Cup final: Reasons for Liverpool to be confident of beating Chelsea

By Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter | 23 February 2024

Ahead of Sunday's EFL Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea, Sports Mole looks at three reasons for the Reds to be confident of prevailing at Wembley.

On Sunday afternoon, Liverpool could complete the first step towards an epic quadruple when they pit their wits against Chelsea in the 2023-24 EFL Cup final.

Taking charge in the competition for the very last time, Jurgen Klopp has witnessed the Reds overcome Leicester City, Bournemouth, West Ham United and Fulham to book a Wembley date, which could very well precede glory in the Premier League, FA Cup and Europa League.

While Liverpool may arrive in the English capital with a double-figure list of absentees, leaving Klopp's men bereft of senior options in all areas of the field, they still hold the favourites tag in the eyes of many.

Here, Sports Mole looks at three reasons for the Reds to be confident of putting Chelsea to the sword and hoisting the trophy aloft on February 25.

EFL Cup nous

Caoimhin Kelleher celebrates with teammates after Liverpool win the EFL Cup on February 27, 2022 © Reuters

No matter whether the Reds proudly don winners' medals or cut glum figures with their runners-up consolation prize, Liverpool will end Sunday's match as the most successful side in the history of the EFL Cup, which they have already triumphed in nine times down the years.

Manchester City may have previously made the competition their own, but Liverpool remain one clear of their treble-winning foes in the all-time EFL Cup standings, and four of their nine successes in the tournament have come since the turn of the millennium.

In addition, while the Reds have come up trumps in nine trophy matches, they have only been condemned to a gut-wrenching defeat in four of them, most recently falling to Man City's superiority in the 2015-16 season before an engrossing penalty-shootout success over Chelsea in 2021-22.

Barring the new-look engine room, many who stepped foot onto the Wembley turf for that fateful day are still sporting Merseyside red, and since the first COVID-19 lockdown, Liverpool have lost just one EFL Cup encounter in normal time.

Head-to-head superiority

Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai scores their third goal on January 31, 2024 © Reuters

Liverpool and Chelsea will be battling for supremacy at Wembley just a few weeks after sharing five goals in an Anfield Premier League encounter, although four of those strikes came via the boot or head of a Reds player in a 4-1 dismantling, where Mauricio Pochettino's troops were a shadow of the Chelsea teams of old.

That emphatic triumph extended Liverpool's unbeaten run over Chelsea to eight games in all competitions - not since a March 2021 affair behind closed doors at Anfield have the Reds fallen short against the Blues - although the seven encounters that followed that defeat ended level after normal time.

However, the two Wembley affairs in which the two sides could not be separated - the 2021-22 EFL Cup and FA Cup finals - Klopp's men proved their prowess from 12 yards on both occasions, and they have shipped just two goals in their last six matches against their upcoming foes.

In addition, Klopp got the better of Pochettino in their only previous major tournament final - the 2019 Champions League showpiece - and the German's experience in trophy matches far outweighs that of the former Tottenham Hotspur head coach.

Squad players stepping up

While the likes of Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah have not been ruled out just yet, all of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota and Alisson Becker have no chance of turning out at Wembley, where fringe and academy players will no doubt play a significant part.

Thankfully for Klopp, his faith in some of the Reds' less revered names continues to be vindicated - as was the case in Wednesday's 4-1 battering of Luton Town - where Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott were among the scorers.

The former's contributions can sometimes go under the radar, but he is in double figures in all competitions for the season and has already struck four EFL Cup goals. Only Morgan Rogers, ex-Middlesbrough and now Aston Villa, boasts more with five.

A spellbinding display from Elliott - Salah's deputy - also saw the 20-year-old break an incredibly unique Premier League record in midweek, while effervescent right-back Conor Bradley and midfield screen Wataru Endo have also stepped up to the plate in the absence of their superiors.