Ahead of the Carabao Cup final this weekend, we caught up with Liverpool legend John Barnes, who gave BonusCodeBets an exclusive preview of the game between Chelsea and Liverpool at Wembley. Chelsea will come into the final buoyed by their 1-1 draw with Manchester City, whilst Liverpool have scored 11 goals in their last three matches and continue to march on despite their injury issues.
In this article:
- John Barnes’ Chelsea x Liverpool combined XI
- Chelsea’s unpredictability means Carabao Cup Final could go either way
- Chelsea don’t have a Haaland type player to be worried about
- Injuries won’t derail quadruple hopes, says Barnes
John Barnes’ Chelsea x Liverpool combined best XI:
Alisson; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil Van Dijk, Thiago Silva, Andy Robertson; Dominic Szoboszlai, Enzo Fernandez, Cole Palmer; Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz.
Chelsea’s unpredictability means Carabao Cup Final could go either way
After Chelsea’s draw against Manchester City, they will come into the final buoyed by an improved performance against the reigning league champions. Chelsea have struggled to find consistency in the Premier League after finishing 12th last season, and currently find themselves in 10th place after another disappointing campaign. But the Blues will be hopeful that a win against Liverpool could be the boost needed to kick start the Mauricio Pochettino era.
“Chelsea are going to come into the game with a lot of confidence after their performance against Manchester City, but before that game people thought it was going to be a hammering and I said Chelsea on their day can beat anybody.”
“They’ve got good players, a good manager, but the dangerous thing with Chelsea is you don’t know which Chelsea is going to show up.”
“It would be easier to predict this game if we knew Chelsea were going to be very good weekly or play poorly weekly.”
“With Chelsea you can never tell as Manchester City found out and they were lucky to get a draw, they could have lost that game.”
“We know what we’ll get from Liverpool. They will play with energy and determination. We just don’t know which Chelsea we will get.”
“I haven’t got a clue how this game is going to go. You can never tell with Chelsea.”
Chelsea don’t have a Haaland type player to be worried about
Interestingly, whilst Barnes is wary of the threat posed by Chelsea, he doesn’t believe they have any stand out players that Liverpool will need to be wary of. Barnes’ issue is you don’t know which Chelsea you’re going to get and which of their players will turn up on any given day.
“I don’t think there are any specific players that Liverpool need to be wary of from Chelsea, even though they do have very good players.”
“It’s not as if they have a Haaland who is their main goalscorer. With Chelsea you don’t know who’s going to score. You don’t know who’s going to play and how they’re going to play.”
“It could be Sterling, it could be Jackson, Nkunku. They’ve got so many good players.”
“There’s no one player to pick out. Chelsea can create with lots of different players so it’s not about stopping one individual.”
Injuries won’t derail quadruple hopes says Barnes
Whilst Liverpool continue to plough through the season, injuries have been a recurring issue for Jurgen Klopp and his men. Could the injuries to key players such as Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota have come at the wrong time of the season for Liverpool?
“The injuries won’t derail Liverpool’s hopes of winning trophies this season because you can see what Liverpool did against Luton without Trent, Szoboszlai, Jones, Alisson, Salah and Jota.”
“We had a very depleted side against Luton and comfortably beat them after a difficult first twenty or twenty five minutes.”
“We have a good squad even though it’s better to have your best players available.”
“Liverpool also have players coming back so I’m not overly concerned with the injuries. Klopp has created a squad capable of handling such issues.”
“We can cope. We have enough to fight on all fronts until the end.”
“Liverpool perform regardless of who’s on the pitch.”
“I’m confident Liverpool can get a result.”
