Liverpool travel down to Wembley Stadium on Sunday to face Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final as they look to secure their first silverware of the season.
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher and former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton are both expecting a tight Carabao Cup final but feel Jurgen Klopp’s side will edge it.
The League Cup showpiece on Sunday is a huge match in the context of both clubs’ seasons. For Liverpool, it is a chance to crown Klopp’s final campaign at the club with at least one truth.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are in desperate need of a boost for their season as Mauricio Pochettino’s side sit in lowly tenth in the Premier League. The London team met the Reds in the Premier League at the end of January which saw Klopp’s men blow their opponents away in a 4-1 thrashing.
However, the pundits do not expect a repeat to take place this weekend. Take a look at how Carragher, Sutton and former Arsenal forward Theo Walcott see the final unfolding.
Jamie Carragher
The former Liverpool centre-back was impressed with what he saw from Chelsea at Manchester City last weekend and expects that will fill them with confidence moving forwards. However, he is not convinced it will be enough to prevent Liverpool from lifting the trophy.
He explained via the Daily Mirror: “Chelsea had to take something from the game into the cup final. You had to build some belief.
“Playing away at Man City is a tougher game than playing Liverpool at Wembley. Liverpool’s injuries as well, I think it will be a tight game.
“I think Liverpool will just have the edge.”
Chris Sutton
Unlike Carragher, Sutton chose to put his neck on the line and predicted a 2-1 victory for Liverpool after extra-time. Explaining his decision to BBC Sport, he wrote: “I was at Anfield a few weeks ago, when Liverpool absolutely thrashed Chelsea 4-1. To say it was a demolition does not do it justice.
“It was billed then as a dress rehearsal for this final and, when I was thinking about it afterwards, I just thought there is no way you would give the Blues any chance whatsoever based on what happened in that game. But then you see Chelsea hold Manchester City last weekend, when they almost held on at 1-0 and, with better finishing, had the chance to go further in front.
“Meanwhile, with Liverpool, there are injury doubts over so many of their forwards, including Mohamed Salah. Is he fit, or not? We don’t know.
“Liverpool were woeful in the first half against Luton on Wednesday, then wonderful after the break. We will have to wait and see which Liverpool turn up, but the same can obviously be said about Chelsea.
“So, the question is whether I am going to end up being hoodwinked by that display against City, or whether the tide really is about to turn for Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino. I am not convinced that the latter is the case. As I said at the very start, I was tempted to go with Chelsea… but I have talked myself out of it.”
Theo Walcott
A neutral in this prediction contest, the former Everton and Arsenal forward was reluctant to choose a winner. In fact, Walcott foresees the clash going the full distance.
He told Football Daily: “Cup finals, anything can happen. Knowing and being in these games before, they tend to go to penalties, they really do because these teams cancel each other out because they are so close in stature when it comes to cup finals.
“Premier League form goes out the window, in a cup final, every player wants to win and fight to the end and that’s why you see a lot of them go to penalties. I probably see this going all the way to the end which isn’t ever nice, I hate seeing penalties.”
