CLASH OF TITANS (FA Cup Final gonna be thrilling): Chelsea vs Liverpool FA Cup Final Prematch Review

Chelsea vs Liverpool FA Cup final preview

Chelsea are back at Wembley to face Liverpool in a cup final for the second time in the space of a few months, this time with the FA Cup up for grabs. Here are all the crucial pre-match review

Liverpool have kept just three clean sheets in their last 28 matches against Chelsea in all competitions.

Chelsea are the most successful side in the FA Cup since the turn of the century, reaching 11 finals (including 2022), winning six of them.

Liverpool have reached the final of the League Cup and FA Cup in the same season for a third time, after 2000/01 and 2011/12.

Jurgen Klopp’s side will be looking to win an FA Cup final at Wembley for the first time since 1991/92 against Sunderland when Graeme Souness was in charge.

Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell are ruled out for the final, while N’Golo Kanté and Mateo Kovačić are [cue shock] in training and will likely be available for Chelsea.

While Thomas Tuchel doesn’t seem a manager who would risk fielding players who are not fully fit because he’s worried about the opposition or the fact that it’s a final, if either questionable players is even slightly off-pace in a game that promises to be very high intensity would benefit the Reds massively.

Chelsea have been in poor form recently — though it must be said that Liverpool have looked less than great in the past two matches. Since going out of the Champions League to Real Madrid in the quarter finals, Chelsea have: beat Crystal Palace (2-0); lost to Arsenal (2-4); beat 10-men West Ham narrowly and late (1-0); drew at Manchester United (1-1); lost to Everton (1-0); drew with Wolves (2-2); and beat a 10-man Leeds United (3-0).

As a set of results, they’re hard to draw conclusions from — and they’re strange performances as well. Because their top-four position seemed safe and because they’ve been knocked out of the European Cup it’s possible their performances reflect the fact that they’ve got nothing to play for (“on the beach,” as it were). It can be hard to return to top performance levels after not having to go to the well for weeks on end, but then there’s always The Chelsea v. Liverpool Rule”

They always manage to turn it on against Liverpool. Always.

Should be a tight one, and often a disjointed one, since the Blues tactics don’t line up in an aesthetically pleasing way (unlike when Liverpool play Manchester City, for example).

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Fabinho went off with a hamstring injury against Aston Villa, and since he’s been confirmed as being “back for the Champions League Final” we can assume he won’t be available Saturday. It’s unclear how serious his injury is (though he did seem very off the pace before feeling his hamstring) — Klopp has not confirmed whether he could come back earlier, adding “[about featuring] before [Paris], we will see. We don’t know, that’s it.”

Otherwise Liverpool are fully fit, and with Roberto Firmino returning to the bench (though not getting any minutes) at Aston Villa we can assume that Jürgen Klopp has a full squad available for selection.

Given the Fabinho injury, you would expect Jordan Henderson to start as the 6. Chelsea’s midfield are hard-working and high-intensity, and the two who start with him will need to be up for the task of shutting that down. Klopp could go for Thiago and Naby Keïta, though a surprise inclusion of James Milner would not be completely out of the blue.

In general, all choices are good ones. The back five asks the manager to choose between Joël Matip and Ibrahima Konaté — both of whom have had an excellent season. The front three will be three of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané, Luis Díaz, and Diogo Jota. Any three would be sound.