Liverpool face Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley today (3pm) with Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez hoping to be involved after injuries.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will have to make some tough decisions when selecting his starting XI for the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea today (3pm). The Red Devils are looking to win the League Cup for the second time under Klopp’s leadership in his last match in the competition, but the German will have to do so without a number of players due to injury. Express Sport looks at what Klopp could become…
Alisson Becker will be sidelined until the end of March with a hamstring injury, but even if he is fit, Caoimhin Kelleher will always start this game. He was the hero when Liverpool beat Chelsea 11-10 on penalties in 2022.
The Irishman has kept just two clean sheets in 15 matches this season, conceding in all five Carabao Cup matches so far. Liverpool is missing Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back, and Connor Bradley will start in his place. The Northern Irish defender is an excellent assistant and scored his first goal for the Red Devils in a 4-1 loss to Chelsea in the Premier League last month.
Jarel Quansah started at centre-back under skipper Virgil van Dijk in the midweek win over Luton. But Ibrahima Konate will replace the academy graduate here, while Andy Robertson will replace Joe Gomez at left-back.
Both Quansah and Gomez were forced to sit on the bench.
The Merseyside club has been hit hard by midfield injuries and was without Thiago Alcantara, Curtis Jones and Stefan Bajcetic at Wembley. Klopp’s second-in-command Pep Lijnders said Dominik Szoboszlai is having difficulty staying in the team.
Given that he has not played a single minute since the win over Chelsea on January 31 in the league, and has missed four matches since then due to a hamstring problem, he should not feature on the bench unless he enters the twentieth day of competition. The midfield trio that defeated Luton will start against the London side.
This means Wataru Endo is in defensive midfield with Alexis McAllister in a slightly more advanced role on the right and Ryan Gravenberch on the left. James McConnell will sit on the bench whether Szoboszlai is there or not.
Attack: Elliott, Jacobo, Diaz
Mohamed Salah (muscle strain) and Darwin Nunez (muscle strain) missed the 4-1 win over Luton. Like Szoboszlai, they should only start on the bench in the box to come up with game-changing options in the second half, if they feature in the lineup.
With Diogo Jota sidelined due to a knee problem, only Liverpool’s top strikers, Cody Jacobo and Luis Diaz, will start. They both scored against Luton, as did Harvey Elliott in Salah’s right-wing position.
The England Under-21 international will start again after starting all five of the last five matches in this tournament. Midfielder Jackpo is the second-highest scorer in the Carabao Cup with four goals and will shoulder most of the scoring load.
Liverpool vs Chelsea prediction: Kelleher; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Endo, McAllister, Grafenbruch; Elliot, Jacopo, Diaz
Expected Seats: Adrian; Tsimikas, Gomez, Quansah; McConnell, Szoboszlai; Salah, Nunez, Gordon