5 key battles that could decide Chelsea vs Liverpool in Carabao Cup final
Chelsea and Liverpool head to Wembley Stadium on Sunday for the Carabao Cup final, bidding to win the first silverware of the season.
The two sides met less than a month ago, with Liverpool romping to a 4-1 victory, but a lot has changed since then. Jurgen Klopp believes the Reds aren't favourites for this one, and whether that's actually the case or not, it speaks volumes in the change in both sides' fortunes in the past few weeks.
Injuries have ravaged Liverpool's squad, whereas Chelsea are unbeaten in three games and just put in arguably their best performance of the season as they held Manchester City to a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium.
All the signs suggest we're in for a belter of a game, but the Carabao Cup is likely to be determined by who comes out on top in five key battles.
Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez are both major injury doubts for Liverpool, while Diogo Jota is definitely out after picking up a nasty-looking injury against Brentford. So there's a strong chance that Colombian winger Luis Diaz becomes the focal point of Liverpool's attack at Wembley.
Diaz should line up on his favoured left side, where he'll find the in-form Malo Gusto. The Frenchman made light work of Manchester City's Jeremy Doku recently and will have to give the Liverpool man the same treatment if Chelsea are to get something out of this one.
Gusto's attacking instincts will also need to be tracked by Diaz, who can't afford to forget his defensive duties either.
Chelsea were comfortably second-best all over the pitch in last month's defeat to Liverpool, but their midfield humbling was perhaps the sharpest nail hammered in the coffin. Moises Caicedo bore the brunt of severe criticism but it was Enzo Fernandez's non-existent performance
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