Following the Carabao Cup quarter-final stage, there is a clear picture of the teams most likely to claim the first piece of silverware on the English footballing calendar.
Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Fulham and Chelsea make up the final four, with the latter pair having secured their path via dramatic penalty shootouts against Everton and Newcastle United respectively.
The semi-final draw has split Liverpool and Chelsea into different sides of the competition, which means another Wembley fixture between the pair could be just a matter of months away.
Liverpool are competition favourites
Liverpool secured the most emphatic victory of the quarter-finals with a five-goal thrashing against West Ham, in which Jarrod Bowen provided the only reply for the Hammers.
That result has allowed Liverpool to earn a two-legged tie with Fulham in the semi-final and they are now favourites to win the competition outright. Many leading bookmakers who offer a range of free bet offers have the reds as odds on favourites to win the cup in February.
bet365 for example offers Jurgen Klopp’s team at 4/5 to secure a landmark 10th League Cup victory in the club’s history. The site offers a sign-up bonus of £30 in free bets in return for an initial £10 stake on the captivating football on show this season.
Liverpool will be expected to secure a comfortable lead from the opening leg of their Fulham contest at Anfield, and if the competition pans out as expected then Chelsea could await them in the final.
Chelsea face second-tier opposition for a final spot
Chelsea have not been in particularly strong league form this season. In the opening 17 fixtures, the Blues picked up just 22 points. However, when it comes to the League Cup, they are potentially 270 minutes away from winning a trophy in Mauricio Pochettinos’s debut season in charge.
Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough were drawn as Chelsea’s opponent for the semi-finals, which means that the Blues will be heavily fancied to secure a place in the final. Boro are not only a team in an inferior division, but they are also languishing in the bottom half of the Championship table.
Ultimately, the way the quarter-finals have played out has created a likely scenario in which Liverpool and Chelsea will meet in a final yet again.
The odds suggest that the Blues would be slight outsiders in the potential matchup, as they are offered at 6/4 to achieve League Cup glory in 2024.
The pair’s recent final meetings
Back in the 2021/22 season the pair faced off in the Carabao and FA Cup finals, with both fixtures bizarrely featuring no goals. Liverpool triumphed both times via a penalty shootout.
In the opening final of that season in the League Cup, Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga missed the decisive kick in a lengthy shootout. While in the FA Cup, Mason Mount was the man who cost Chelsea, before Kostas Tsimikas netted the winning strike for the Reds.
With the odds favouring the pair to meet in a third domestic cup final in the space of two years, perhaps this time the teams could play out an exciting match with their new-look squads and evolved playing styles.
Liverpool and Chelsea simply haven’t been able to keep away from each other when making lengthy cup runs in recent seasons.
This year that trend looks set to continue yet again, with Liverpool opening up their semi-final at Anfield against mid-table Fulham, and Chelsea set to entertain a Boro side that has been struggling in the Championship.
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