Chelsea and Manchester City will meet up one more time this season but this time for a cup final at the Wembley Stadium. Many football pundits are predicting that City will have an easy game against Chelsea but even at that below are the Five essential stats you all need to check out.
This year’s final includes two of the most successful teams in the competition’s history. Both Chelsea and City have won the League Cup on five occasions – a total bettered only by Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola’s side go into the game as holders after their win over Arsenal in the final last year.
In fact, City have dominated this competition in recent seasons, having won three of the previous five finals – with Chelsea, in 2015, and Manchester United in 2017, the other winners
But both sides have also enjoyed considerable success in all competitions over the past decade.
Sunday’s game will see England’s two most successful sides of recent seasons meet in a major cup final for the very first time – although they did meet in the first ever Full Members Cup Final in 1986.
Since the 2010//11 season, no other English sides have won as many major trophies as these two clubs.
Combined, their haul includes five Premier League titles, three FA Cups and four League Cups – as well as Chelsea’s wins in the Champions League and Europa League.
Domestically, City lead the way with all seven of their trophies won in England – three of them coming in this competition.
Sunday’s game will be the fourth meeting between the sides this season – they opened the domestic season in the Community Shield at Wembley in August and have played both Premier League fixtures.
City won 6-0 in the last meeting at the Etihad just two weeks ago and, since then, Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has found himself under increasing pressure to get back to winning ways.
This will be the Italian’s first major cup final as a manager, and a win would give him his first major trophy.
In comparison, his opposite number on Sunday has won 20 major honours during his managerial career – including seven league titles and two Champions Leagues.
In addition, Guardiola has won 10 of the 11 major finals he has contested as a manager – his only defeat being when Barcelona lost to Real Madrid in the 2011 Copa del Rey final.
There is some hope for Chelsea though, as they beat City 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in December.
The defeat was City’s first in the Premier League this season and Sarri’s side are only one of two to stop City scoring in a game this season – the other being Liverpool in October.
One of the key men for City on Sunday will be former Chelsea midfielder Kevin De Bruyne. Now back to full fitness after missing much of the first half of this season, he will be looking to add to his growing list of major honours.
De Bruyne has an excellent record in the League Cup for City: no one else has scored as many goals in the competition since he signed for the club in 2015.
Two of his nine goals have been this season, and four have been in semi-final ties. The last of his nine games as a Chelsea player was also in this competition – a quarter-final defeat against Sunderland in December 2013.
Another key man for City will be their record goalscorer Sergio Aguero, who has now scored 15 goals in his 18 career appearances against Chelsea.
The Argentine has only scored as many goals against Newcastle throughout his European club career and his tally against Chelsea includes two hat-tricks – the last coming in that 6-0 demolition a fortnight ago.
However, Aguero has scored only once in his six major club finals for Atletico Madrid and City – although that goal was in last season’s League Cup win against Arsenal.