Chelsea handed Carabao Cup final advantage vs Liverpool due to little-known rule
Chelsea will technically have a ‘home’ advantage when they take on Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final thanks to a little-known rule.
It will be the third time the two teams have met in a final in the last three years, with Liverpool coming out on top to win both the 2022 Carabao Cup and FA Cup. For both of those games, Chelsea were the ‘home’ side and that will be the case once again this year.
That is because the rules state that whichever team is first in alphabetical order is considered the ‘home’ side and that means the Blues will enjoy the home dressing rooms at Wembley on Sunday.
Speaking ahead of the clash, Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino insisted Liverpool are the favourites. “For me, Liverpool are favourites because they have the experience to compete like a team and be involved in different finals,” he said.
“For many of our players, it’s maybe their first final, so that’s why I’d make them favourites. He’s (Klopp) one of the best, with Pep, coaches in the world. He’s clever enough.
“He knows that when you play a final, circumstances can happen. If they are not favourites, we are not favourites. They have the experience to compete like a team and be involved in different finals.”
Klopp, meanwhile, does not believe the fact that Liverpool beat Chelsea 4-1 in the Premier League last month will have any bearing on the final whatsoever. “The result we had here [at Anfield] doesn’t help,” he told club media.
Chelsea will technically be the ‘home’ side when they face Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final
“Of course, we have to play the game again and it’s like firing the opponent up slightly. The final is a completely different game, there’s no home ground obviously. We played them now a couple of times in a final and we know one part is blue and one is red.
“We know what our people are able to do, but the Chelsea people will be looking forward to it as well. But everybody knows, a final, there is no favourite, it starts at nil and for each little advantage you want to have, you have to work incredibly hard.
“The two Chelsea games in the finals [in 2022], I remember as two of the best draws I’ve ever been part of in my entire life because it was from a tactical point of view incredible, from an intensity point of view incredible, and then 0-0, 0-0 – strange one.”
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