Chelsea v Manchester City: Final of the Carabao Cup – live! | Soccer

Pep too, briefly!

"[The 6-0] It was an incredibly important result for us, but today is a final, a different competition, and we hope to be able to play the game as if a final deserved to be played. "

Sarri speaks!

"We played every three days [since the 6-0] It is difficult to work in the field. We talked a lot about trying to improve ourselves. Two months ago we played [City] and won with a game of great application. We know we can do better and better.

"I do not understand why you ask me [about his future] because you know very well that I can only give my opinion. You must ask the club. "

We were not fooled by his opinion.

"Chelsea is playing on the same pitch as the one who beat City 2-0 last year," notes Neil Bailey, who scores a point. It was a strange game, because Chelsea grabbed it after returning to the stage of possession of Plan B, essentially.

He finished aimlessly at Old Trafford, and was rather a slog. Half an hour until this one now …

Paul Wilson explains very well how Chelsea could learn from the example of City:

The quality in United v Liverpool has been … deficient, shall we say. We will definitely improve at Wembley. Fans of Chelsea: good call to leave Higuain on the bench?

You do not know if you have heard of it, but another game is in progress at the moment. Simon Burnton will guide you through the last striking strokes of Manchester United v Liverpool and then I'll have a lot more of it. In the meantime, find out about your thoughts and predictions!

Chelsea: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Rüdiger, David Luiz, Emerson, Kante, Jorginho, Barkley, Willian, Hazard, Pedro. Subs: Caballero, Christiansen, Kovacic, Loftus Cheek, Hudson-Odoi, Giroud, Higuain.

Manchester City: Ederson, Zinchenko, Laporte, Otamendi, Walker, Fernandinho, Silva, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Sterling, Aguero. Subs: Muric, Danilo, Kompany, Gundogan, Sane, Mahrez, Foden.

Strong of City, with Ederson in goals rather than Muric, who would usually expect to play in this competition. Guardiola is clearly desperate for victory. Despite the absence of Hudson-Odoi at the start for Chelsea despite his goal against Malmo Thursday, Jorginho and Hazard are among the players to return – and Barkley starts. Higuain is on the bench. Probably we will see Hazard as a fake nine, which tends to work well against smaller teams but not against good ones.

The sun rises in North London, Wembley looks resplendent, it almost looks like it's May. But it's the final of the league cup, rather than the FA Cup final, and the stories around it may well move us to the last. Manchester City will gag to win the first of a series of four potential trophies, and keep it in the process, make no mistake. If they lose today, the chance to achieve something historic, if it is not mbadively likely, has disappeared. But for Chelsea, there is something quite different at stake.

Chelsea won this competition for the last time four years ago and would love to return. In case of failure, you would have the impression that Maurizio Sarri is made for; that the Chelsea overhaul be completed before it actually began and that an exhausting cycle of upheaval recommences? It was a 6-0 loss to City just two weeks ago, which suggested that the goose was cooked. Anything that might look like this would surely seal the deal today. tends to go.

The players want to win stuff, it's the bottom line, and the Chelsea international team will be desperate to do it today. There is no way for City to score six goals better than Chelsea on a normal day; It's not a normal day but it's a cup final and it's usually a great leveler. Will it be enough?

My opinion: whatever happens today, you can not give up Sarribecause it was obvious * even before he had entered * that it was not just a type of instant results, that it would take a year or two to develop and get going. they were going at that time, under current ownership, Chelsea will just confirm itself as a case. Do what City did with Pep and let things evolve during a quiet first campaign! Has Sarri been propelled by the firecracker from such a fantastic start to the season, who even saw Chelsea be suggested breathless as title contender these first few weeks? I think so too. The football of the last few weeks has not really been good, but he needs more time to recruit his own people and his ideas, not just Jorginho, whose new supporter status seems totally unreasonable and simply deviant. .

Anyway. Will it be day today for Chelsea and Sarri? Is all this just a derisory diversion from the inevitable? This is the beginning of something fabulous for a city that has not always reached the peaks of last season? So much to ponder, so little time: we leave at 4:30 pm UK time. So, send us your ideas by email and / or Twitter now!