- Liverpool take on Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday evening at Wembley Stadium
- Liverpool will be seeking to win their second trophy of the season to add to the EFL Carabao cup they lifted in March
- The Reds won the EFL courtesy of Chelsea through a penalty shoot-out and Chelsea will be keen to avenge the loss this time round
Liverpool may have lost ground in the Premier League title race to Manchester City – courtesy of Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur, but they could claim a second trophy of the campaign when they face Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday evening.
A Wembley Stadium meeting between the Blues and the Reds is, of course, nothing new, with Thomas Tuchel paying the penalty – literally – for his ill-fated introduction of Kepa Arrizabalaga in February’s EFL Cup final loss to the same opponents.
Revenge will certainly be on Chelsea’s minds after substitute Kepa missed the decisive spot-kick in the shoot-out at the end of that goalless draw, and they will be desperate to avoid becoming the first team to lose both domestic English cup finals in the same season since Middlesbrough in 1996-97.
Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arizabalaga missed the decisive goal kick to hand Liverpool the EFL Carabao Cup trophy in the final in March this year. | PHOTO: Getty Images |
For Liverpool, meanwhile, their pursuit of the quadruple, and with it, footballing immortality, hinges on their ability to see off Tuchel Blues.
Who will be crowned the latest winners of football’s oldest national competition? SportsLeo takes a look at the key Opta numbers ahead of these two rivals’ fourth meeting of the season – all of which ended in draws.
Wembley regulars hunting cup success
Chelsea and Liverpool have met in the final of the FA Cup on just one previous occasion, with Ramires and Didier Drogba firing the London club – then managed by Roberto Di Matteo – to victory just over a decade ago on May 5, 2012.
Both sides have significant pedigree in the competition, with Chelsea making their 16th final appearance and Liverpool featuring in their 15th – only Arsenal (21) and Manchester United (20) have made more such appearances than the duo.
However, neither side has had it all their own way when making it this far, with Chelsea losing each of the last two finals.
The Blues are the first team to qualify for three consecutive finals since Arsenal between 2000-01 and 2002-03, but another defeat would make them the first team since Newcastle United in 1998-99 to lose in their last three final appearances (1973-74, 1997-98, and 1998-99).
Liverpool, however, has lifted the trophy on just 50 percent of their previous final appearances (7/14). Only two teams have a worse success rate having reached 10 or more finals (Everton, 5/13, and Newcastle, 6/13).
Fourth time lucky as deadlocked rivals meet again?
Having both made their names coaching Bundesliga sides Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, Tuchel and Klopp are no strangers to one another and have become accustomed to head-to-head meetings this season.
Chelsea and Liverpool have already met three times this campaign, twice in the Premier League and once in the EFL Cup final, with each of those games ending level despite even Chelsea playing with 10 men in the league’s first leg clash at Anfield earlier in the season.
Having clung on with 10-men to earn a 1-1 draw at Anfield in August, Chelsea fought back from two goals down in a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge in January before enduring penalty heartache at Wembley the following month.
The last fixture between two English top-flight teams to see more draws in the same campaign was Arsenal v Chelsea in 2017-18 (four).
Fans of a penalty shoot-out, then, could be in for more entertainment on Saturday.
The Mane for the big occasion
The electrifying form of January arrival Luis Diaz means Klopp’s Reds have never had such attacking depth available, but could one of his longest-serving attackers make the difference here?
Since arriving at Anfield in 2016, Sadio Mane has scored six times against Chelsea, with no other player scoring more often against the Blues in that time.
Liverpool, forward Sadio Mane celebrating a goal against Chelsea in a previous meeting. The forward has scored six goals against the Blues since joining the Reds in 2016. | PHOTO: Getty Images |
Mane made an important contribution to Liverpool’s 3-2 semi-final win over Manchester City, becoming the first player to score a Wembley brace for the club since Steve McManaman in the 1995 League Cup final against Bolton Wanderers.
Should Mane again find the net against one of his favourite opponents, he would become the first Liverpool player to score in consecutive Wembley appearances (when used as a neutral venue) since Phillipe Coutinho in April 2015 and February 2016.
Can Werner haunt his former suitors?
Chelsea forward Timo Werner made headlines on Friday after claiming to have chosen Stamford Bridge over Anfield when he left RB Leipzig in 2020.
And the Germany international will hope to continue his excellent FA Cup campaign if he is chosen to lead the line at Wembley.
No player has made more goal contributions in the competition than Werner this season, with the 26-year-old recording two goals and three assists in the Blues’ cup run.
While that tally is more than any Liverpool player has managed in the competition this term, it’s also the most any Chelsea player has registered in a single FA Cup campaign since Pedro (six) and Willian (seven) both impressed in 2016-17.
However, Chelsea ended that season by falling to a 2-1 final defeat to Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, so Werner will be hoping any contribution he can make will prove more decisive.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login