Home of football statistics and historyManchester City face Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday with the first piece of silverware of the season up for grabs in the Carabao Cup final.
A 10-0 aggregate victory over Burton Albion saw City cruise into the final, while Chelsea needed penalties to see off Tottenham Hotspur.
City are odds on favourites to beat Chelsea and there will be plenty of punters using the bet365 refer a friend scheme to back them to do just that.
Pep Guardiola is sweating on the fitness of John Stones and Gabriel Jesus. The pair missed the midweek Champions League tie with Schalke, staying behind in Manchester to undergo treatment.
Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga is a doubt for Sunday’s clash with the Spaniard struggling with a hamstring problem.
The 24-year-old sustained the injury during Monday’s FA Cup defeat against Manchester United and Argentine goalkeeper Willy Caballero is on standby.
This year’s final features two of the most successful teams in the competition’s history. Both Chelsea and City have won the League Cup on five occasions – a total bettered only by Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola’s side go into the game as holders after their 3-0 win over Arsenal in the final last year.
City have dominated this competition in recent seasons, having won three of the previous five finals – with Chelsea, in 2015, and Manchester United in 2017, the other winners.
Sunday’s game will be the fourth meeting between the sides this season – they opened the season in the Community Shield at Wembley in August and have played two Premier League fixtures since then.
City won 6-0 in their last meeting at the Etihad Stadium just two weeks ago, cranking up the pressure on Blues’ boss Mauricio Sarri.
However, Sarri will take comfort from the fact his side defeated City 2-0 at Stamford Bridge earlier this season.
One of the key men for City on Sunday will be former Chelsea midfielder Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian midfielder has an excellent record in the League Cup for City – no-one else has scored as many goals in the competition since he signed for the club in 2015.
Another key man for City will be their record goalscorer Sergio Aguero, who has now scored 15 goals in his 18 career appearances against Chelsea.
With the likes of De Bruyne and Aguero in their ranks, City look to have too much firepower for Chelsea and are strongly fancied to come out on top this weekend.
0 Comments