Will Liverpool or Chelsea feature in the League Cup final? Well, here's an interesting stat: on each of the six prior times the two sides have faced off in this competition, at least one has managed to make it to the final.
Curiously enough, this will be the first of two matches featuring the Reds and the Blues, with a tantalizing re-match in the Premier League set to take place this weekend. Maurizio Sarri will be leading his side for the first time in the English League Cup, and he will be hoping to avoid making a rather unwanted piece of history and match another manager who also hailed from his native Italy. The last coach not to win or draw their opening League Cup game was Claudio Ranieri, who saw his side lose to - ironically perhaps - Liverpool nearly 18 years ago in November 2000.
Sarri saw his side stumble to a surprise draw with West Ham last weekend, which ended a perfect winning streak and see Liverpool inch two points clear. Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp's men have been in brilliant form and have won all six of their Premier League games so far. Including the Champions League, the Reds have won seven straight fixtures across all comps for the first time in the club's history. However, the Reds don't have a good track record in this competition as of late, where they have lost their last three fixtures without scoring.
In addition, Liverpool have struggled to deal with Chelsea. The hosts have won just two of their last 14 meetings against the Blues across all competitions, and oddly enough, none took place at Anfield. Overall, Chelsea are unbeaten in their last seven fixtures against Liverpool at Anfield, and the last time they lost at this ground was back in 2012, when they were beaten 4-1.
For the hosts, Virgil van Dijk could possibly miss out due to a rib injury, meaning that Dejan Lovren could take his place in the starting XI. Should he feature, this would mark his first appearance for his club since playing for Croatia in the World Cup final this past summer. New goalkeeper Alisson is also expected to be rotated in lieu of Simon Mignolet.
As for the visitors, they will be missing Pedro, Antonio Rudiger, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all due to various injuries.
![]() | Chelsea | Apr 13 3:00pm | Porto | ![]() |
![]() | PSG | Apr 13 3:00pm | Bayern München | ![]() |
![]() | Borussia Dortmund | Apr 14 3:00pm | Manchester City | ![]() |
![]() | Liverpool | Apr 14 3:00pm | Real Madrid | ![]() |
![]() | Manchester United | Apr 15 3:00pm | Granada | ![]() |
![]() | Slavia Praha | Apr 15 3:00pm | Arsenal | ![]() |
![]() | Wolfsburg | Apr 17 9:30am | Bayern München | ![]() |
![]() | Borussia M'gladbach | Apr 17 9:30am | Eintracht Frankfurt | ![]() |
![]() | Bayer Leverkusen | Apr 17 12:30pm | Köln | ![]() |
![]() | Arsenal | Apr 18 8:30am | Fulham | ![]() |