Capital One Cup final preview and odds: Liverpool vs Manchester City

Published on: 27/02/2016

Capital One Cup final preview and odds: Liverpool vs Manchester City

February 28, 2016 16:30pm - Wembley Stadium

Capital One Cup

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp can enter the history books on Sunday by racing to his first trophy in a shorter timescale than any other manager in the clubs history. Standing in his way will be a Manchester City side who are looking to win their second Capital Cup crown in three years.

Liverpool pressing for number nine

Despite nearly securing the Premier League title in 2014, former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers left the club without a trophy to his name. New boss Jurgen Klopp can ensure that his tenure at the club is not a trophy-free one by guiding his team to a ninth Capital Cup win on Sunday. If Klopp is successful, he will follow in the footsteps of Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish, Evans and Houllier, who all added this trophy to their illustrious resumes.

The Reds are coming into this game on the back of a 1-0 win against Augsburg in the Europa League that secured their passage into the last 16. That competition represents their last realistic chance of qualifying for next seasons Champions League. However, if they fail to go all the way, a Capital One Cup win would at least guarantee European football for next season.

The Merseyside club have won their last two meetings against the team from Manchester, including a 4-1 rout at the Etihad back in November.

City faltering on the domestic front

Manchester City will be hoping that Manuel Pellegrini can add to the club?s trophy haul before he makes way for new boss Pep Guardiola in the summer.

The Sky Blues broke a four-game losing streak in all competitions this week by overcoming Dynamo Kiev 3-1 in Ukraine. They currently sit four places and nine points above their rivals in the Premier League table.

Despite their considerable resources, City have failed to take the initiative in their domestic campaign and have fallen behind in the title race.

There are suggestion that they are more focussed on reaching the latter stages of the Champions League this season - a tournament in which they have historically failed to deliver.

Team news

Liverpool still have plenty of players on the side-lines with Joe Allen, Jordan Rossiter, Martin Skrtel, Joe Gomez and Danny Ings all unavailable.

Meanwhile, City will be without Eliaquim Mangala, Wilfried Bony, Kevin De Bruyne and Fabian Delph.

Recent form (all comps)

Liverpool: WDWLD

Manchester City: WLLLD

Betting odds and tips

Liverpool are playing their 12th final, having won the tournament a record eight times. City are aiming for their fourth League Cup trophy and their second in three years.

Both sides have a W4 D3 L3 record over the last 10 Premier League games so it should be an even contest. However, it was Liverpool who cruised to victory the last time the teams met.

You can back the Reds to lift the trophy at 13/10 with Bet365.

By Neil Morris

Published on: 27/02/2016

Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (27/02/2016 13:26:59) but are subject to change.