Ajibade Olusesan 
Neither Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp nor Thomas Tuchel of Chelsea actually consider Carabao Cup as a priority but winning the less-prestigious trophy on Sunday could place their wards in good mood to pursue their more illustrious prizes this season. Liverpool and Chelsea have prioritized the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League but you can’t get to play in a final of any tournament at the Wembley Stadium quite often and the environment around iconic facilities will be so charged on Sunday.
Chelsea have won two tournaments this season already; they clinched the Super Cup and World Club Cup recently but Klopp can feel they haven’t won as many trophies as their performance in the last four seasons deserved and adding this to their collection wouldn’t be a bad idea. It is instructive to note that Liverpool has some other thing to fuel their desire; If they win on Sunday, it will be the club’s 66th trophy, moving them to level with Manchester United to become English football’s most successful club.
That figure includes everything from Club World Cups to Community Shields, with more than a few league titles and Champions Leagues thrown into the mix too The Reds are sitting just one spot above the Blues on the EPL table but that does not fully represent the form the two sides are enjoying at the moment. It is hard to consider any side more dangerous than Klopp’s men.
Tuchel knows his compatriot at Anfield has a better team and better individual players than him, so he has his work cut out in terms of devising a tactical plan to beat Liverpool. Right now, Liverpool are arguably the best team in Europe and their 6-0 win against Leeds in midweek underscored their incredible attacking threat. If Liverpool perform to their best, they will win on Sunday; everything is working for the Reds at this moment in time and Tuchel’s players will have to stifle Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane up front, keep Fabinho contained in midfield, find a way to get past centre-back Virgil van Dijk and nullify the threat of full-backs Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Chelsea have struggled to impress in recent games, although they have still been able to win. Against Liverpool, they can’t expect to be fortunate again unless Tuchel finds a way to repeat the end-to-end game that saw the two teams draw 2-2 at Stamford Bridge in January. Liverpool have won 10 out of 11 games since then, though, and they have moved up another level. Tuchel is an exceptionally good coach and has what it takes to stop Klopp from achieving this milestoneor not being focused.”
