Liverpool would not have been taking the Carabao Cup final lightly anyway, but the extent of the injury list that Jürgen Klopp’s side is facing at the moment means that the playing field has been leveled slightly. There is a 25-point gap in the Premier League table but the Reds will be without eight players who could easily have started.
It remains to be seen whether or not Mohamed Salah and Darwin Núñez make it back in time, while the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson Becker, Thiago Alcântara and Diogo Jota are set to miss out. Chelsea has players missing as well, of course, but the extent of those sidelined at Anfield is unprecedented.
But Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk, who could lift his first trophy since being named permanent Reds captain after Jordan Henderson’s summer exit, has outlined a change that Liverpool will need to make compared to the match between the teams at Anfield that took place only a few weeks ago. In that fixture, Liverpool won 4-1.
“The result obviously looks a lot better,” Van Dijk told reporters, via the ECHO, when asked about the last meeting between the teams at the end of January. “We could have scored more, but they were dangerous. I think in the first half, with the way they set up, they tried to get me and Ibou (Konaté) into difficult situations.”
With the likes of Enzo Fernández and Conor Gallagher running forward from midfield areas and Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer in its attack, Chelsea does have a threat in the final third. But Liverpool is now aware of the types of runs that will be made at Wembley and Van Dijk is confident that he and the rest of the defense can take care of that.
“We’re going to try to sort that out,” the Dutchman continued. “They’re a good team, and I think they showed that as well. They have a fantastic manager, and it will be a very, very difficult game. But we have to make it very difficult for them, so we’ll see.”