It’s a tantalizing battle between Chelsea and Liverpool, as two of the FA Cup’s most successful clubs collide at Wembley Stadium on Saturday for the trophy in the showpiece final.
With the Premier League fixture programme all nudged back to Sunday despite a packed schedule, tradition takes the spotlight with a clash between the sides placed second and third in the EPL table.
They’ve also lifted the Cup 15 times between them, with the Blues doing so most recently in 2018.
The Reds haven’t been crowned cup kings since 2006, when they saw off West Ham in a penalty shootout following a breathless 3-3 draw in the heat at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, while the new Wembley was still being built.
It’s high time boss Jurgen Klopp and his sparkling side got their hands on the most prized domestic pot of all, then, as they come into the tie with a quadruple still possible.
The EFL Cup is already in the bag, a place in the Uefa Champions League final confirmed and the Premier League title race with Manchester City going all the way to the last week of the season.
But it’s all eyes on north London for this weekend, with the Reds having sealed their final place with a fantastic victory over Pep Guardiola’s City a month ago.
They had earlier squeaked past Championship Nottingham Forest in the quarter-finals, having also edged through a trickier-than-expected Anfield tie with EPL strugglers Norwich in Round Five.
Second tier Cardiff were also seen off on Merseyside, with League One Shrewsbury dispatched as Klopp’s side eased their way into the competition in Round Three.
Their opponents have enjoyed a relative breeze through the tournament, only meeting a fellow top flight club at Wembley in the semi-finals.
Coach Thomas Tuchel and his side managed to sideline the tumultuous exit of sanctioned Russian oligarch owner Roman Abramovich, rising to see off fellow London side Crystal Palace at the home of football.
It was an off-field crisis they were already dealing with as they came away from Championship Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium with a welcome 2-0 success at the quarter-final stage.
The Blues were also on the road in Round Five, with second tier play-off contenders Luton pushing them all the way for their 3-2 win at Kenilworth Road.
It was a campaign that could have ended in fourth round ignominy, however, when League One Plymouth caused all sorts of problems at Stamford Bridge before going down in extra time, with non-league Chesterfield having been comfortably dispensed with in Round Three.
Latest FA Cup fixtures and results
Select the relevant competition from the drop down in order to see the results and fixtures.
FA Cup final prediction for 14 May
Prediction methodology explained: The expected win percentage is based off publicly available odds. For example, if a team’s odds are 2.30, the expected chance of winning is 43%. If the odds are 1.62 the expected chance of winning is 62% and so on. These are accurate at the time of writing but are subject to change. Where there is no value listed, the odds were not available at the time of writing.
| Chance of winning (%) | Usual win % with these odds | |
| Chelsea | 28 | 29 |
| Liverpool | 49 | 63 |