Liverpool face Chelsea on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup. Some massive injury news has been confirmed ahead of the fixture.
The Carabao Cup might be Andoni Iraola’s best chance of delivering silverware in his debut season as Liverpool boss. Depending on how seriously you take their Premier League and UEFA Champions League credentials, of course.
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Iraola will hope to make an impression in the competition, anyway, and he made a magnificent start against Tottenham Hotspur in the third round. Liverpool put out a much weakened team against what was effectively Spurs’ first-team but the Reds won – in part thanks to a truly sensational goal by Dominik Szoboszlai.
Their reward for that victory was a clash with another of London’s major clubs. Now they’ll host Chelsea – a Chelsea team that just lost to Spurs at home, in fact.
Liverpool, on the other hand, are in good. Form the 3-0 home defeat to Manchester City was a blip, though one largely explained by a red card, and they’ve otherwise looked pretty strong.
So what are their chances of beating Chelsea?
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Chelsea head coach Xabi Alonso has confirmed that Joao Pedro will not face Liverpool at Anfield. It’s an enormous blow for the Blues, who have come to depend on the Brazilian in all truth.
Pedro has started the season superbly and his link-up play with Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer behind him has been the primary reason for any Chelsea success this season. They’ll be without him again, though, much as they were in the 2-0 defeat at home to Spurs this weekend.
Alonso tried to cover Pedro’s absence in that one by moving Rogers forward but it really didn’t work. We expect Danny Welbeck to start this one as a result – probably a bigger threat for Liverpool’s centre-backs than the converted midfielder, really.
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Liverpool will have their own injury concerns, of course. Florian Wirtz is likely out after going off early against Brighton. Then there are the usual absences like Conor Bradley and Hugo Ekitiké.
Those injuries are really what makes this competition a tough one for Iraola to win – he’s down on the squad depth that he’d otherwise count on. Battling against that but keeping players fresh for key Premier League matches is difficult, but it’s ultimately the task he’s been handed here.
Chelsea will be battling issues of their own, however. And that might just make Liverpool strong favourites at Anfield.
