Paul Higham has three Carabao Cup final Bet Builders for you including one for both Chelsea and Liverpool and one 33/1 value bet…
It’s the first cup final of the season and these big games are perfect for those wanting to delve into the world of Carabao Cup final Bet Builder multiples to celebrate.
So let’s try and pick out three to consider, one each for whether you fancy Liverpool or Chelsea to take home the trophy, looking at what they’ll need to do to win, along with a value bet at bigger odds.
It gets overlooked most of the time but the Carabao Cup certainly means a lot when it’s Liverpool and Chelsea battling it out at Wembley for the first piece of silverware of the season.
Jurgen Klopp took charge of the Reds in the League Cup final just a few months after joining the club, but he’s never really been one for domestic cup runs when targeting the two big trophies.
His philosophy hasn’t really changed, but the strength of his squad has, which explains why they’re still fighting on four fronts this season.
An early pot in the trophy cabinet would be a lovely boost, but Thomas Tuchel has been hoovering up silverware since the day he set foot inside Stamford Bridge, and squad size and depth has never really been an issue for Chelsea under any manager.
The Reds are favourites, so let’s start with them, and a Bet Builder based on Klopp’s men coming out on top.
It’s all rather easy this, but how can you even consider backing Liverpool to lift the trophy without adding in Mohamed Salah scoring a 28th goal of yet another incredible season.
Salah bizarrely has never scored a League Cup goal, although he’s hardly been a regular in the competition, but he’s bagged in his last two games against Chelsea and is on the pens so he’s a must-have here.
Bolster those odds with Liverpool to win the corner contest too with a -1 handicap. They’ve earned more corners than the Blues straight up in their last six meetings, and they’ve beaten a -1 handicap healthily in six of the last eight contests – topping the corner match bet by margins of 9, 3, 10, 6, 6, 5.
They’ve also earned 41 more corners than Chelsea in the league this season as the majority of their attacking comes down the wings so this one also looks a no-brainer, yet gives us a healthy return for the treble.
Chelsea have plenty of firepower but Liverpool’s defence has been pretty decent of late and in big games Tuchel goes for a safety-first approach that has proven to be a winning formula in picking up trophies.
You wouldn’t back the Blues to beat Klopp’s men in an open shootout, and even though the last game was an entertaining 2-2 draw, the goals came from a collection of errors and Tuchel will want them to tighten up.
A narrow Chelsea win coming from a stout defensive efforts seems miles more likely so couple the blue ribbons going on the famous three-handled trophy with under 2.5 goals in the match.
Seven of Chelsea’s last 10 games went under and three of their last four contests with Liverpool also ducked below 2.5 goals so it makes sense to put that into play.
What really boosts our odds here though is a goal for Captain America himself Christian Pulisic, who has scored a couple of times against the Reds and offers the right kind of profile to provide a danger for Liverpool’s defence.
He’s quick on the break and also coming in from that left can burst in behind Trent Alexander-Arnold when the Reds’ right back is bombing forward in attack mode.
For our value shot we’re basing this one around the tight nature of cup finals and recent matches between these two teams which mean that you could not rule out the game ending level after 90 minutes and extra time coming into the equation.
Although Tuchel’s side can defend well, it’s hard to imagine Liverpool not scoring but Chelsea also have some serious goal threat so both teams to score seems more than likely.
The last two meetings have been drawn.
On the player front, Sadio Mane is a stand-out price to score a goal here, having scored three in his last four games against Chelsea and likely to operate in a central role again as he did against Leeds with both Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota likely out.
Mane’s extra pace and direct running down the middle also spells danger for Chelsea’s centre backs and that could spell danger for Antonio Rudiger, who will have already been gearing up to deal with Salah but could have his partner in crime to fend off as well.
The German plays on the left of Chelsea’s back three and Mane could well have a run at him as well as Salah and Rudiger looks a stand out pick to get a seventh booking of the season.
All of which gives us a huge price on our Bet Builder filled with entirely possible events that could give us a massive return without even having to pick a winner!
Source: Betfair Premier League
