The first trophy of the season is up for grabs when Manchester City play Liverpool in the Capital One Cup final at Wembley on Sunday (live on beIN SPORTS and fuboTV at 11:30am ET on US TV).
The Citizens are going for a second League Cup trophy in three years while Liverpool are looking to add to the eight League Cup titles in their record books.
Manuel Pellegrini’s men have gone through a rough patch in recent times with successive home defeats against title rivals Leicester City and Tottenham, which condemned them to fourth place in the league before losing 5-1 at Chelsea last weekend in the FA Cup.
Pellegrini came under severe criticism when he fielded six U-21 players in the starting XI at Stamford Bridge last weekend but City’s 3-1 win at Dynamo Kiev in midweek justified his team selection in the FA Cup.
Liverpool, on the other hand, are looking to claim their first trophy in four years. The Reds have not really improved in the league since Jurgen Klopp took over and are eighth in the league table with 12 matches to go.
They are also out of the FA Cup but they managed to beat Augsburg over two legs to reach the Europa League round-of-16 stage where they will be facing arch rivals Manchester United.
SEE MORE: Liverpool vs. Manchester City League Cup final preview
Klopp will be hoping his side can replicate the form they showed in the 4-1 thrashing of City last November to claim his first silverware as Liverpool boss, something Brendan Rodgers never managed in three full seasons at the club.
Team news
Daniel Sturridge is fit to start the game on Sunday and he will lead the line for the Reds, with Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho his support cast. Martin Skrtel, Dejan Lovern, Adam Lallana and Joe Allen all returned to training this week but they may not be deemed fit enough to start.
Manchester City is expected to keep the same starting XI that defeated Dynamo Kiev comfortably on Wednesday but Pablo Zabaleta may replace Bacary Sagna at right-back.
Predicted lineups
