The FA Cup will be up for grabs today as Chelsea take on Liverpool at Wembley Stadium. You may remember that these two clubs have already faced off in a cup final this season. Liverpool lifted the EFL trophy after a memorable 11-10 penalty shootout in February. What’s most memorable for me was Kepa being subbed in for an in-form Mendy and he somewhat hilariously failed to save any of Liverpool’s eleven spot kicks and then skied his own attempt in sudden death.
If we can learn anything from that final it’s that plenty of chances will be created. Even though it ended 0-0 both teams had goals ruled out by VAR for narrow offside decisions. The keepers Kelleher and Mendy were the stars of the show, both making several top shelf saves to keep their teams in it. I’m pretty confident we’ll see at least one goal today.
Looking at the lineups, Thomas Tuchel has given a start to Romelu Lukaku. The big Belgian seems to have worked himself back into the manager’s good graces after a couple of nice performances. Chelsea have to play differently when he’s in the team to try and take advantage of what he does well. Can he find space in between Konate and Van Dijk? I’m not so sure but of course he has options on the bench if he needs to change it up.
Jurgen Klopp has named his best available starting eleven with the only miss being Fabinho who picked up a knock in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa. The Reds haven’t won the FA Cup since 2006 and haven’t made a final in 10 years, ironically their opponents were Chelsea that day. The Blues have been regular finalists, appearing in four of the last five.
I picked Liverpool to lift the Carabao Cup back in February and ultimately that worked out. Part of me feels it's Chelsea’s day but I think it might go to extra time and possibly penalties again.
I’m going to split a unit and play Either Team to win in ET (+550) and Either Team to win on Pens (+500).
