Stan Collymore has predicted who’s going to win this Sunday’s League Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool.
Chelsea face rivals Liverpool this weekend for the Carabao Cup trophy, which is the first piece of silverware in 2024.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side travel to Wembley Stadium as the slight underdogs in a couple of days time, but we’ve seen when they click this season they’re dangerous. The Blues supporters will hope it’s a coming of age moment for their very young group.
As for Jurgen Klopp’s Reds team, this is the first of four trophies they’re still competing to win this campaign.
Stan Collymore has explained why he thinks there’s big pressure on Chelsea this weekend. Eventually, he’s predicted Liverpool to come out on top as winners of the domestic cup final.
Collymore told CaughtOffside: “Heading into the Carabao Cup final on Sunday at Wembley, I think the pressure is all on Chelsea because of how the season has gone so far. It is very unlikely that they will qualify for the Champions League this season but they may sneak into one of the other European competitions with the number of games left to play. Therefore, this could be the biggest moment of their season.
“… The Reds are certainly the favourites and although they got players out, they still have a very good squad and they know what it is like to win things. Chelsea’s young group of players don’t know that yet so that will make things interesting. If Chelsea win it and play as well as they can; if that is not the biggest wake-up call to the rest of the Premier League that the Blues are on the right track, then nothing will be.
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“It is also important for those young players to convince themselves that they can win something. For Chelsea to get back to being a trophy-winning machine, I think for them to lose to Liverpool on Sunday and potentially not win anything for a couple of years, would be very damaging to the mindset of the Blues’ young players.
“Therefore, I have a feeling Mauricio Pochettino’s men will be massively up for this Carabao Cup final but I think Liverpool will be very relaxed beforehand and will ultimately go on to lift the first trophy of the season at Wembley.”
Chelsea vs Liverpool
Chelsea’s squad is mostly littered with youth and inexperience, but there’s a few exceptions that could have big roles to play versus Liverpool. For example, we think Blues stars Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell will be valuable players for our youngsters to lean on for the big occasion.
Also, 39-year-old defender Thiago Silva is as experienced as it gets. We’re still unclear on if the centre-back will make the squad against Liverpool.
Speaking via YouTube in today’s press conference, Chelsea head coach Pochettino said Silva still needs a late assessment but he’s got a chance of playing the cup final.
