In the early days of his reign at Chelsea, it looked like Mauricio Sarri’s team would challenge with Liverpool and Manchester City for the league title. A few months on, and Chelsea are now battling for fourth spot in the Premier League with Arsenal and Manchester United, have been dumped out of the FA Cup by Manchester United and the week before were humiliated 6-0 at the Etihad Stadium by a rampant Manchester City.
Their only win in that period was a 2-1 away victory over Malmo FF in the Europa League with the second leg of that game to be played at Stamford Bridge on Thursday. However after that Chelsea face another crucial game, the Carabao Cup Final at Wembley where they will battle for the first silverware of the season against their nemesis from a fortnight prior, Manchester City.
[featured_offer id=”1750″]In contrast to Chelsea, City have been in exemplary form with their only blip a defeat away to Newcastle a few weeks ago. They sit atop of the Premier League table on goal difference, albeit having played a game more than Liverpool and are into the FA Cup quarterfinals where they face a trip to Swansea City. They are also in the Champions League Round of 16, having contested Schalke 04 in Germany on Thursday night.
If you fancy a flutter on the first Cup Final of the English football season, then a great place ot head is bet365 Sport. Depending on where you live and the broadcasting restrictions in place, you may be able to catch the game via a live stream, provided you have made a bet within the preceding 24 hours, or have a funded account. If you do fancy a bet then bet365 offers a wide range of pre-match and In Play betting and if you are not yet a customer, you can sign up with the latest bet365 Sport New Player Bonus which could see you earn up to £100 in bet credits.
Let’s now preview this game and see whether Chelsea have any chance of gaining revenge on Manchester City, or whether the Pep Guardiola juggernaut will claim its first (and possibly not the last) trophy of the season.
Carabao Cup Final Preview
Chelsea
Chelsea’s Road to Wembley
Chelsea received a bye to the Third Round of the Carabao Cup as they were one of the teams that qualified for European competition this season.
- Third Round – v Liverpool (A) – W 2-1 (Palmieri 79, Hazard 85)
- Fourth Round – v Derby County (H) – W 3-2 (Tomori og 5, Keogh og 21, Fabregas 41)
- Quarterfinal – v Bournemouth (H) – W 1-0 (Hazard 84)
- Semifinal 1st Leg – v Tottenham (A) – L 0-1
- Semifinal 2nd Leg – v Tottenham (H) – W 2-1 (Kante 27, Hazard 38) *Chelsea win 4-2 on penalties
Leading Goalscorer in the Carabao Cup – Eden Hazard – 3 goals
Goals Scored – 8, Goals Conceded – 5
Premier League Position – 6th (50 points from 26 games, +16 goal difference)
Chelsea Squad
Goalkeepers
- Kepa Arrizabalaga
- Willy Caballero
- Rob Green
- Marcin Bulka
Defender
- David Luiz
- Marcos Alonso
- Emerson Palmieri
- Ethan Ampadu
- Gary Cahill
- Antonio Rudiger
- Cesar Azpilicueta
- Andreas Christensen (injured)
- Davide Zappacosta
Midfielders
- N’Golo Kante
- Willian
- Jorginho
- Mateo Kovacic
- Ruben Loftus-Cheek
- Ross Barkley
- Danny Drinkwater
- George McEachran
Attackers
- Gonzalo Higuain
- Eden Hazard
- Olivier Giroud
- Callum Hudson-Odoi
- Pedro
Likely Starting XI – (4-3-3) – Caballero, Azpilicueta, Alonso, Luiz, Rudiger, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Pedro, Higuain, Hazard
Manager – Mauricio Sarri
It’s been a tough period for Sarri and this game may represent his last chance to redeem himself at Stamford Bridge after the Chelsea faithful were openly dissenting at some of the choices made in the games at Man City and in the FA Cup at home to Manchester United. Quite simply a win will be the only way he is likely to keep his job over the longer term. That is a lot of pressure for a manager to work under, especially now that many Chelsea fans have seemingly turned against the Italian.
Manchester City
Manchester City’s Road to Wembley
Like Chelsea, Manchester City received a bye into the Third Round of the Carabao Cup as they were one of the teams playing in European competition.
- Third Round – v Oxford United (A) – W 3-0 (Jesus 36, Mahrez 78, Foden 90+2)
- Fourth Round – v Fulham (H) – W 2-0 (Diaz 18,65)
- Quarterfinal – v Leicester (A) – D 1-1 (De Bruyne 14) *Man City won 3-1 on penalties
- Semifinal 1st Leg – v Burton Albion (H) – W 9-0 (De Bruyne 5, Jesus 30,34,57,65, Zinchenko 37, Foden 62, Walker 70, Mahrez 83)
- Semifinal 2nd Leg – v Burton Albion (A) – W 1-0 (Aguero 26)
Lesding Goalscorer in the Carabao Cup – Gabriel Jesus – 5 goals
Goals Scored – 16, Goals Conceded – 1
Premier League Position – 1st (65 points from 27 games, +54 goal difference)
Manchester City Squad
Goalkeepers
- Ederson
- Arijanet Muric
- Claudio Bravo (Injured)
Defenders
- Benjamin Mendy (doubt)
- Vincent Kompany (injured)
- Oleksandr Zinchenko
- Danilo
- Aymeric Laporte
- John Stones
- Kyle Walker
- Nicolas Otamendi
Midfielders
- Kevin De Bruyne
- David Silva
- Fernandinho
- Phil Foden
- Bernardo Silva
- Ilkay Gundogan
- Fabian Delph
Attackers
- Sergio Aguero
- Gabriel de Jesus
- Riyad Mahrez
- Raheem Sterling
- Leroy Sane
Likely Starting XI – (4-3-3) – Ederson, Walker, Laporte, Stones, Zinchenko, De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Silva.D, Sterling, Sane, Aguero
Manager – Pep Guardiola
Is this the first of potentially four trophies that Pep Guardiola will add to the Community Shield that City won last August, also against Chelsea at Wembley? After their 6-0 demolition of Chelsea at the Etihad a couple of weeks ago, few would bet against it. City are in imperious form and have had a day extra to prepare for the game and given their current form, it would be a huge surprise if City did not end up holding the trophy aloft at the end of the game.
Carabao Cup Final Tips
To Win the Game – Manchester City – 11/20 with bet365
It’s rare to see a final contested between two teams who should, in theory, be well matched but to have one team as such a dominant favourite. You can get 9/2 on a Chelsea win inside 90 minutes with bet365, which goes to show just how much the punters feel this is City’s trophy. All the stats, current form and the head to head record between the teams of late points to a City win and I can’t in good faith make a convincing case for anything else otherwise.
First Goalscorer – Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) – 16/5
The Argentinean ace was at his lethal best at home to Chelsea a couple of weeks ago, despite missing an absolute sitter, as he still netted a hat-trick, his second at home against top six opponents in the past few weeks. Aguero seems to have the knack of scoring against top six opposition and I feel he could be Chelsea’s tormentor in chief once again at Wembley.
Correct Score – Chelsea 1-3 Manchester City – 12/1
While I can’t quite see this game being as bad for Chelsea as the league game was a few weeks ago, I am confident City will score a fair few goals to ensure a relatively comfortable victory. I do feel Chelsea will score a goal perhaps to make things 1-1, but I can see City running out strong winners come full time.
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