Chelsea and Liverpool face off at Wembley on Sunday for the first major trophy of the season.
The Reds are missing lots of important players for their Carabao Cup final against Mauricio Pochettino’s men, which could be Jurgen Klopp’s last match at Wembley. These injuries will play a part in this combined XI. That means no Alisson or Trent Alexander-Arnold, for example.
GK: Djordje Petrovic (Chelsea)
We have some belting goalkeepers to choose from here with Alisson out injured. There are also doubts over the availability of Robert Sanchez, so his replacement at Stamford Bridge gets the nod ahead of Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher.
Kelleher is a decent cup ‘keeper but we reckon Petrovic has been more assured in the Chelsea goal than Sanchez and will probably keep hold of his place in Pochettino’s starting XI when the Spaniard is back to full fitness.
RB: Malo Gusto (Chelsea)
With the aforementioned Alexander-Arnold absent, Gusto – who has impressed this year – gets in ahead of Reds youngster Conor Bradley.
Gusto was not too convincing at the start of his Chelsea career but his form in recent weeks has been superb in comparison. He has become a great outlet for Enzo Fernandez’s diagonals and is proving himself to be a nuisance in the final third.
CB: Ibrahima Konate (Liverpool)
Liverpool’s centre-back pairing in Konate and Virgil van Dijk is one of the best in the business. Unfortunately for Jurgen Klopp, the former has not been fit as often as he would like. The Frenchman is enjoying a nice spell in the side this year and has been flawless barring a nightmare at Arsenal.
Konate is one of the best young central defenders in world football and if his persistent injury troubles are behind him, the Reds have got someone who can become the best in his position in world football.
CB: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Chelsea have a few decent available centre-backs in Thiago Silva, Axel Disasi and Levi Colwill, but none would start for Liverpool, and to quote Rafa Benitez: ‘That is a fact’.
Van Dijk’s inclusion was never up for debate.
LB: Andy Robertson (Liverpool)
Another position that is not up for debate, even if Ben Chilwell has been decent under Pochettino this year. Robertson is still one of the best left-backs in the world.
CM: Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea)
Liverpool fans created lots of potential XIs with Fernandez in it. He was next to Jude Bellingham and another player in this combined XI who ended up at Stamford Bridge. None joined the Reds, who ended up signing Ryan Gravenberch, Wataru Endo, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai last summer.
After a year of looking decent but not a £105m midfielder, Fernandez has produced a few sublime performances this term and is beginning to look like the difference maker he was bought – by Graham Potter – to be.
CM: Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool)
Liverpool’s best signing of the four, Mac Allister, is nailed on to start at Wembley. Szoboszlai is not, however, due to injury. Gravenberch and Endo will likely join the Argentine in Klopp’s midfield three, but neither of those two gets in this combined XI.
Mac Allister has been solid while playing out of position for Liverpool, occupying a deeper role than he is used to, but Endo’s recent emergence as Klopp’s defensive midfielder has helped the former Brighton man excel in the second half of the campaign.
Read more: Liverpool injury cries are weird – Manchester United and Chelsea have both suffered more this season
CM: Moises Caicedo (Chelsea)
The other player Liverpool fans dreamed of having in their new-look midfield, Caicedo joined Chelsea for a fee in the same region as Fernandez’s fee.
After dilly-dallying for a few weeks, Klopp’s side decided they needed a defensive midfielder and lodged a £115m bid for the Ecuadorian. Brighton were obviously keen but the player gave his word to Chelsea. Caicedo has been okay for the Blues, which is enough for us to pick him over Gravenberch and Endo.
RW: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
The only player in this combined XI to have played for both teams, Salah’s Liverpool legacy is slightly superior to his Chelsea legacy.
Salah recently missed four games through injury and returned against Brentford to score and assist in 46 minutes. He is obviously sharp and will likely be the difference maker at Wembley.
ST: Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea)
Darwin Nunez vs Nicolas Jackson was the battle everyone expected for this position but we have gone a bit rogue and picked Nkunku, who hasn’t got up and running for the Blues yet.
His inclusion probably says more about Nunez and Jackson than it does him…
LW: Luis Diaz (Liverpool)
Probably the hardest battle in this team, we have given Diaz the edge over Raheem Sterling, who scored against Manchester City last week.
Sterling looked rejuvenated following Pochettino’s arrival but he has significantly slowed down, while Diaz has been fairly consistent over the entirety of this season. That probably comes down to consistent minutes on the pitch, to be fair.
But yeah, this one could have gone either way. If you’re not happy we apologise.
Read next: Carabao Cup final the game to watch in Big Weekend
