Familiarity, so the saying goes, breeds contempt, but for Liverpool and Chelsea it has resulted in a war of attrition.
The two teams have met 17 times since September 2018 and, on the three occasions those have been finals, each one has gone to penalties, with Liverpool victorious in all three.
And, while Sunday’s reunion at Wembley is a repeat of the 2022 Carabao Cup final, which had an epic shoot-out settled by Reds goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher scoring his side’s 11th attempt and Kepa Arrizabalaga missing his, there are few similarities with that afternoon.
1 1 brilliant penalties from the Reds to win the in dramatic fashion!
— Liverpool FC (@LFC)
Injuries and key departures mean Liverpool, the record nine-time winners, will be able to …
Xabi Alonso says Bayer Leverkusen are driven by self-confidence in their ability to win games ahead of the Europa League final.
Leverkusen are chasing the second trophy in a potential treble against Atalanta in Dublin on Wednesday, with the DFB-Pokal final against Kaiserslautern to follow on Saturday.
The Bundesliga champions became the first German team to go unbeaten on their way to the title and are currently on a 51-match run without defeat in all competitions.
Alonso is taking charge of his first European final as a manager, but he believes his team will draw on the experience they have already gained this season.
Our self-confidence keeps driving us on. We know that we can produce goals until the final minute, he said in his pre-match press confere…
Tottenham will face a trip to Wrexham in the fifth round of the FA Cup if the Welsh side overcome Sheffield United in a fourth-round replay next week.
Wrexham, the National League outfit co-owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, were pegged back at the death in a pulsating 3-3 draw with Championship promotion hopefuls United on Sunday.
Hollywood star Reynolds was in attendance at the Racecourse Ground as John Egan s stoppage-time equaliser denied the hosts a famous win, teeing up next Tuesday s replay at Bramall Lane.
Should the fifth-tier outfit cause an upset against the Blades, they will host Spurs in a mouth-watering midweek tie, a fixture which would certainly be viewed as their biggest since Reynolds and McElhenney took charge in 2021.
Elsewher…
Chelsea need to keep faith in Graham Potter despite the massive pressure on their head coach, according to Gary Neville.
The Todd Boehly-led ownership group backed Potter significantly in the January transfer window, spending close to £300million to bring in a host of major signings.
Joao Felix arrived on a short-term loan from Atletico Madrid, while Chelsea beat Arsenal to Mykhaylo Mudryk and splashed a Premier League record £106.8million (€121m) on Enzo Fernandez from Benfica.
That has not eased Chelsea s woes, though, after the Blues went down 1-0 to top-flight strugglers Southampton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday – leaving Potter with just one win in his last 10 games.
But former Manchester United captain Neville cannot see Boehly dismissing Pot…
Jamaal Lascelles has signed a new six-year Newcastle United contract, the club announced on Thursday.
Defender Lascelles, the club captain, was linked with Liverpool earlier in the year but has committed his future to Newcastle to 2024.
And the 24-year-old is thrilled to be staying at Newcastle, who are second bottom in the Premier League without a win in any competition this season.
I m over the moon it s great news to be tied down to Newcastle for a long time, Lascelles told NUFC TV. It s pretty much all I ever wanted: playing in the Premier League in front of amazing fans.
I think now as players, we just need to give the fans what they deserve. We need to put in the performances and make it even more special.
Since I ve been here, everything…
Prediction: Draw (Morocco on pens)
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The FIFA World Cup has officially concluded its group stage as the knockouts continue on through the week. A whole host of countries are expected to shine with the lights on bright but, in reality, this is where pressure and quality collide in the most extraordinary of ways. Today, we ll take a look at what should be an intriguing battle between neighbouring countries Morocco and Spain.
Morocco
Morocco have been one of the surprise packages of the World Cup so far. Everything from their fans to their style of play to the results they ve been getting has been exemplary. They are going to be viewed as the underdogs in this game because of the gulf in experience at the elite level but if they ca…
Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes scored in quick succession as Manchester United came from behind to beat Manchester City 2-1 in a dramatic derby at Old Trafford.
Just four minutes separated the two efforts from Erik ten Hag s side as first Fernandes levelled the scores with a controversial goal to cancel out Jack Grealish s opener.
There were no arguments about United s winner, however, with Rashford prodding home at close range after Alejandro Garnacho s pass across goal.
The win puts United just a point behind their arch-rivals, while handing Arsenal the opportunity to move eight clear with a victory over Tottenham on Sunday.
Game-changing moment. ||
— Manchester United (@ManUtd)
In-form United had the first opportunity after…
David Raya believes Arsenal were nearly perfect in the Premier League last season but acknowledges that is not enough to beat Manchester City to the title.
Having finished second the previous year, Mikel Arteta s men improved their points return in 2023-24 but were again runners up to City.
That was a fourth consecutive title for City, an unprecedented feat in English top-flight history.
Arsenal are once more targeting top spot in the coming campaign, though, and goalkeeper Raya knows the level they must reach right from the start of the season.
The Gunners lost four times before the turn of the year last time out, meaning they could not compete with City even while dropping points in only two of the remaining 18 matches.
Our second half of last …
David Moyes railed against a scandalous VAR decision after West Ham were denied a dramatic equaliser in a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea, though Thomas Tuchel agreed with the call to disallow Maxwel Cornet s late strike.
Chelsea were staring at back-to-back defeats when Michail Antonio gave West Ham a second-half lead at Stamford Bridge, but Ben Chilwell and Kai Havertz stepped off the bench to turn the contest around with a goal apiece.
The drama was not done there, however, as Hammers substitute Cornet had a fine right-footed effort chalked off after Jarrod Bowen was adjudged to have fouled Eduoard Mendy at the death.
Moyes has now failed to win in 18 Premier League trips to Chelsea – the joint-longest winless streak managed by any coach at a single team in the …
UEFA on Saturday started legal action against former Cyprus Football Association (CFA) official Spyros Marangos, who has claimed the bidding process to host Euro 2012 was corrupt.
UEFA confirms that it has officially started legal proceedings in Switzerland against Spyros Marangos following the damaging and unjustifiable allegations in the media concerning the bidding process for Euro 2012, European football s governing body said.
UEFA, which has also started legal proceedings in Cyprus, explained that it had taken this action to determine if there was any basis to the allegations made by Marangos and to protect the integrity and name of UEFA .
Marangos has alleged UEFA officials took bribes of more than 10 million euros through a Cyprus-based company represent…