The last two domestic cup finals between Liverpool and Chelsea have gone to penalties
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Liverpool could find themselves in something of a tight spot if Sunday's Carabao Cup final against Chelsea goes to penalties.
Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez – the only two current Reds players to have scored from the spot outside a shootout – are both doubts for the big Wembley showdown.
The game is a repeat of the 2022 Carabao Cup final – which Liverpool won 11-10 on spot-kicks, with Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga hitting the bar with his penalty to hand victory to Jurgen Klopp's side.
Mo Salah is Liverpool's go-to penalty taker (Image credit: Getty Images)
The reliable Salah scored in that shootout, while Nunez was not yet at the club – but there are serious question marks about the fitness of both going into the Reds' latest trip to the national stadium.
The Egyptian and Uruguayan missed Wednesday night's 4-1 Premier League win over Luton at Anfield, having both found the net as the Reds triumphed by the same scoreline away to Brentford four days earlier.
Salah – who has converted 31 of his 38 non-shootout penalties for Liverpool – only returned to action in the Brentford game, having picked up an injury at the Africa Cup of Nations in January.
Nunez has not taken part in a penalty shootout with the Reds, but he has stepped up twice from 12 yards – finding the net once.
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Darwin Nunez missed from the spot in Liverpool's league win over Chelsea last month (Image credit: Getty Images)
Even worse for Klopp and Liverpool, they could well have available only four players who scored in the 2022 Carabao Cup final shootout against Chelsea: Virgil van Dijk, Harvey Elliott, Ibrahima Konate and goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
That said, it's been all change in the Blues camp since then. Of their 11 penalty takers from that day, only one is even in remote contention to feature this time around: Trevoh Chalobah.
Liverpool certainly had the edge over Chelsea in football's ultimate lottery two years ago, also beating them on penalties in the FA Cup final, 6-5 on that occasion.
Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...
