Former Liverpool player Mark Lawrenson believes that the Carabao Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea ‘may go the distance’ on Sunday.
The Reds are in great form at the moment and thrashed Leeds United 6-0 at Anfield on Wednesday night whilst newly crowned World Club Champions Chelsea have also won their last six games across all competitions.
“I have a feeling this game is going to go the distance,” Lawrenson told BBC Sport.
“Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has a history of making saves in penalty shootouts, including against Leicester in the quarter-finals, and I just wonder if this final will end up being settled in the same way.
“Whoever wins, it will be extremely close. Chelsea will make sure of that, even though their form is not great. They carry much less attacking threat, but they are still solid and have not lost that.
“Liverpool are on a fantastic run of nine straight wins in all competitions and scoring plenty of goals too, but they might have to be patient at Wembley as they try to break the Blues down.”
The ex-Red suggested that the game may finish 1-1 after extra time and will therefore be settled on penalties – Jurgen Klopp’s side also progressed from their quarter-final clash with Leicester after a spot-kick victory.
Klopp is expected to be without Bobby Firmino for the match with Thomas Tuchel’s men and it remains unclear whether Diogo Jota will be fit for the Wembley clash.
Liverpool would still be able to name a strong team regardless but both league meetings with the Londoners this season have ended even.
We were held to a 1-1 draw at Anfield in August, with Chelsea playing a large part of the game with 10-men, and we failed to hold onto our two-goal lead at Stamford Bridge at the beginning of January and the spoils were shared on that occasion also.
Let’s hope we can put in a big performance at the weekend to win our first piece of silverware this season.