The first piece of English silverware of the 2023/24 season will be handed out on Sunday when Chelsea meet Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium.

While inconsistency has dogged Mauricio Pochettino’s first season in charge, the Blues reached the final by beating the likes of Brighton, Newcastle and Middlesbrough among others.

Pochettino has the chance to win his first cup in England, but the Reds will be eager to secure victory in their long send-off for departing manager Jurgen Klopp.

Fans will be keen to avoid repeats of the two domestic cup finals the sides shared in 2021/22 which both ended goalless before penalty shootout victories for Liverpool.

Here’s 90min’s preview of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final.

Pochettino so nearly oversaw a stunning victory at Manchester City last time out only for Rodri’s 81st-minute equaliser to cancel out Raheem Sterling’s opener.

There should be few changes from that starting XI. Thiago Silva is hopeful of returning from a groin problem in time to end his Wembley hoodoo as a Chelsea player, having lost three finals at England’s home of football, but Levi Colwill will partner Axel Disasi in central defence if the Brazilian is unavailable.

Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Benoit Badiashile, Romeo Lavia, Lesley Ugochukwu and Marc Cucurella won’t feature.

Chelsea predicted lineup vs Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Colwill, Chilwell; Caicedo, Fernandez; Palmer, Gallagher, Sterling; Jackson.

Liverpool were without forwards Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez for Wednesday night’s 4-1 win over Luton Town, with Klopp hopeful of welcoming the duo back to his squad for the weekend.

Diogo Jota and Curtis Jones are both absent having picked up significant knocks in the Brentford game, while Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dominik Szoboszlai, Thiago Alcantara, Stefan Bajcetic, Joel Matip and Ben Doak are all sidelined.

Liverpool predicted lineup vs Chelsea (4-3-3): Kelleher; Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Mac Allister, Endo, Gravenberch; Elliott, Gakpo, Diaz.

Liverpool’s 4-1 victory over Chelsea snapped a rather strange and long streak of draws between the two sides. Ignoring the penalty shootout wins for the Reds, the previous seven games were draws, four of which ended goalless.

Pochettino’s side may well aim to frustrate a Klopp outfit decimated by injuries in recent weeks and could enjoy some success, especially if they manage to score the first goal.

However, their unpredictability coupled with Liverpool’s excellent form all year long, losing only four games across all competitions, makes the current Premier League leaders favourites for the first piece of silverware in the English top-flight season.