FA Cup Final tips: find out why blue might be the colour on the famous trophy

Robin Bairner previews the FA Cup Final, as Liverpool take on Chelsea at Wembley for the second time this season.

Treble still possible

Liverpool can complete the second leg of what now looks like a treble attempt on Saturday, when they tackle Chelsea in the FA Cup final.

It will be the second time that the pair have met in a Wembley showpiece this season, with the League Cup final won by the Reds after a marathon penalty shootout that followed a scoreless draw.

Unsurprisingly, Liverpool start as 2.1 favourites to win this match in 90 minutes, while Chelsea are 3.8. A repeat of the League Cup draw, which would force extra-time and potentially penalties, is on offer at 3.65.

Clinging on to fab four hopes 

Liverpool’s attempt to win four trophies stumbled last weekend as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Anfield by Tottenham, leaving their Premier League chances hanging by a thread. By the time they play Southampton in midweek, the title may effectively be out of their reach, yet manager Jurgen Klopp will want his players to control what they can as they bid for history – and that means winning at the weekend. 

There have been signs that his side have started to stall in recent games. They were forced to battle past Newcastle 1-0 at the end of last month before rallying from 2-0 down to beat Villarreal in the Champions League, while they also had to come from behind to beat Aston Villa on Tuesday. And, of course, there were the critical dropped points against Spurs. 

The FA Cup is a competition that has not been kind to the Reds during the German’s reign. Indeed, it is the one major competition that is notably missing from his honours, which adds to the incentive to win this game.

Blues seeking to avoid unwanted hat-trick

Chelsea, meanwhile, have been cup specialists in recent years. This is their third FA Cup final in succession, making them the first club to achieve that in 19 years, although they have lost narrowly to Arsenal and Leicester in their precious two visits to the showpiece.

They did, however, win the FA Cup as recently as 2017-18, when they beat Manchester United in the final.

With third place in the league sewn up thanks to an easy 3-0 win against Leeds in midweek, in which they played against 10 men for more than an hour, and achieved despite resting numerous regular starters, they can go in fully focused on repeating the 2-1 success the club attained over Liverpool the last time the sides met in an FA Cup final a decade ago.

Chelsea will play their third consecutive FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, although they've lost the previous two

Value is on Chelsea 

FA Cup finals have a history of being tight affairs. Aside from Manchester City’s blow-out 6-0 win over Watford, only one game since 2003-04 has been decided by a margin of more than a single goal. Everything points to this game being equally tight.

Liverpool and Chelsea have already met three times this season, with each match being drawn. Indeed, Thomas Tuchel has not lost to the Reds over 90 minutes since taking over the Blues in January 2021. 

With the long season apparently starting to eat into the energy levels of Liverpool, the value is on Chelsea in this match. The Reds’ recent difficulties also point to a low-scoring affair that could well require more than the regular 90 minutes to be settled.

Recommended bets 

Chelsea +0.5 @ 1.82

Under 2.5 goals @ 1.95