Chelsea have lost three finals in a row, and Liverpool have won the title for the first time on a seven-game draw!
The first trophy is in sight, and Liverpool and Chelsea will meet in the final game of the English League Cup at 23:00 local time Portugal on Sunday, where they will fight for their first trophy of the season. These two teams have had some exciting encounters in their history, with Chelsea losing three times in their final three games. Three weeks ago, Liverpool ended a seven-game losing streak between the two teams for the first time and strengthened their confidence in the final with a huge victory.
The League Cup is the national competition of England, which started in 1960 and is now divided into four divisions, namely the Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two. Normally, teams in the league are played from the second round, while those who will play in European competitions are played from the third leg (i.e. the knockout round), while the fourth and final games are played at Wembley Stadium.
Although the Premier League Cup is not as well-known as the FA Cup, with many teams coming on from the bench and the cup is often seen as a scoring machine, many trophies have been clinging to the established powerhouses in recent years. The last time a team from another league won the League Cup 1 4 was 11 years ago, when Swansea City beat Bradford (now a League Two team instead of Brentford in the Premier League). Swansea were able to knock out Chelsea, Liverpool, Bradford Arsenal and others by no means alone"Luck"。
In the next 10 Premier League cup matches, Manchester City picked up six, four of them, while Chelsea got two and Liverpool also got one. United beat Newcastle in last year's Champions League final, while Ten Hagel also brought Liverpool their first trophy in six years in his first year at Old Trafford. So, in the eyes of a struggling Chelsea, league wins are also a motivator.
Liverpool have won a total of nine titles in the Premier League, and they are the biggest winners in the Premier League, with eight of them from Manchester, six from Chelsea and five from Aston Villa. As we all know, Tottenham Hotspur won the 2008 title in 2008, which was also their first title in the century; And in 2006, with the reconstitution of Alex Ferguson, young talents like Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney achieved good results in both the league and the Champions League.
So, winning a game is a turning point for a team. Chelsea did not play in the Europa League this season, so they reached the second round, knocking out Wimbledon, Brighton, Blackburn, Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, and they lost to Middlesbrough in the first leg of the semi-finals, so it was a penalty to decide the result. Liverpool's road was smoother, with wins over Leicester City, Bournemouth, West Ham and Fulham in their third game, only to be held to a draw in the second leg against Fulham.
Liverpool are undoubtedly favourites based on the current situation between the two sides, as they are now four points above the table and have suffered only one defeat in their last time since December, beaten by Arsenal just three weeks ago. Chelsea, on the other hand, have had their ups and downs, with a hard-fought winning streak, winning just two of their last six games, beating Crystal Palace at home in the Premier League and losing to Aston Villa in the FA Cup replay. However, last week's win over Manchester City could have been knocked out of the tournament had it not been for Mauricio Pochettino's late defence.
It's an interesting game, since the start of the 2021 season, Liverpool and Chelsea have played eight games in the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup, with the first seven being draws and looking calm. Three weeks ago, Liverpool swept Chelsea 4-1 away from home, with all four of them on the ball, and it was already a topic of conversation.
What's even more interesting is that these two teams have played each other three times in recent years, but all of them were won by penalty decisions, with Liverpool winning three games and winning the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Super Cup. Especially in the last two rounds, at the 120th minute, the two sides were still 0-0, and no one scored. Chelsea's last win over the Reds came three years ago, when N'Golo Kante set up Mason Mount for the only goal of the game. So, there is no doubt that Liverpool have a certain upper hand mentally.
However, Liverpool are currently facing a large number of injured players, Jorginho, Jones, and Szoboslo, Alexander-Arnold, Alisson, who have confirmed their absences, have not yet returned, and Thiago, Valle, Matip, have not decided to return. Mohamed Salah and Nunez were out of action in midweek and I'm sure Jurgen Klopp would be more than happy to see them play better.
Statistics show that Chelsea have earned 10 net revenues in the Europa League in the last 10 years42 billion, ranking at 13After the 48 billion Manchester United. However, the huge investment did not bolster Chelsea, who simply went back and forth between one or two wins or one defeat. Sometimes, a goalscorer can win a game or win with a bit of luck, but many times, stars like Raheem Sterling, Palmer, Jackson have won them with their "fun football".
Boehly is looking forward to seeing the win on the pitch as Chelsea claim their first trophy under Boehly. And, because the UEFA Football Association has more financial rules than the league, it is unclear whether Chelsea will be able to win the league title.
Pochettino has not hidden his thoughts, they have reached the last four and the Carabao Cup is their main goal this season. The same goes for Liverpool, who also want to say goodbye to Jurgen Klopp with the league trophy. The first winner of the season is just around the corner. So, let's guess how many goals Nunez will kick if he can play?