Chelsea's 22-day pain and how Carabao Cup final vs Liverpool comes at perfect time

Leaving Anfield on January 31, it was like a party atmosphere. Liverpool supporters were still outside of the stadium hours after the game had finished. Jurgen Klopp's much-spoken-about 'farewell party' seemed to begin on that day.

For Chelsea, they could not have chosen a worse time to face the Reds. Already formidable at home, the match coming days after Klopp shocked the world with his announcement that he will be leaving the club at the end of the season, it is fair to say destiny was on Liverpool’s side.

Mauricio Pochettino felt as if the officials were on Liverpool’s side, too, and is still not quite over that, despite it being 22 days since the match. Chelsea came into the game in not-such-great form and were massive underdogs for a reason.

Despite a fairly positive start, where Conor Gallagher was told to get up after being taken down in the Liverpool box, Anfield was soon at full volume. And it kept getting louder as Chelsea were getting more and more torn apart by a hungrier Reds side.

Pochettino was very downbeat after the match, which is to be expected given what happened; but equally unusual because he is normally so level-headed whether his side win, draw or lose. There looked to be some serious pressure on his shoulders after yet another heavy defeat on the road to a so-called 'top six' club. Just a few days later, things hit rock-bottom for Pochettino as he and his players were loudly booed off after being well beaten by Wolverhampton Wanderers on their home turf.

People were beginning to ask serious questions of what Pochettino was offering Chelsea. What were he and his coaching staff doing during these training sessions? He, of course helped by his players, have answered that emphatically since that grim day