Carabao Cup Final: Can Chelsea offer their fans some joy in a tough season?

Carabao Cup final preview: Chelsea vs Liverpool - Injury updates, tactics, and key players.

Liverpool's shrewd midfield is up against an expensively assembled one from Chelsea, it's a game of huge significance for both sides. (Photo credit: GOAL)

The Carabao Cup final is upon us, and, like we’ve witnessed many times in recent seasons, it’s Chelsea up against Liverpool, more like “take two!”.

Chelsea needs a respite; the Blues need a ray of hope from anywhere—something to make them believe and something to celebrate their generous owners. The Todd Boehly-led consortium needs a trophy to show for their loose purse; this is a big opportunity.

Liverpool is in a good place in the league but in a bad place on the injury front. They still cannot tell if they can call on Mohammed Salah, Darwin Nunez, and Curtis Jones for this one. The trio got injured in their win over Brentford, and now they hope they get one or two of them back for the cup final.

Going into this fixture, Chelsea is in high spirits after their gritty 1-1 draw against Manchester City at the Etihad. It was a result that shows how good they can be defensively, but it also highlights how fragile they can be when the opposition is relentless.

Liverpool’s only bad spot in their last five games was the loss at the Emirates to Arsenal. The Reds are on a run of three straight wins and also learned of their round-of-16 opponent in the UEFA Europa League, who will play against Sparta Prague.

In the context of this game, despite how depleted the Kops are, they’re still the favorites, and the last two times they met with Chelsea in a cup final, it ended in penalties with Liverpool winning, so most bookies would favor Jurgen Klopp’s side again.

How can Chelsea upset the odds? They need to be brave; they cannot afford to rely on a defensive masterclass on days like this; they must set up to score, manage possession better, and pay attention to Liverpool’s long balls.

Liverpool will be without Trent. Alexander Arnold and Alison have a backup keeper believed to be good enough for occasions like this; he was in goal when Liverpool beat Chelsea in two cup finals two seasons ago.

Liverpool will assess a lot of players to ascertain fitness, but Connor Bradley will step in for Alexander Arnold, Andy Robertson will be available, and you can expect anyone picked up front to step in accordingly. Games between these two typically end in draws; this could well go into extra time again.