Chelsea fans’ preferred lineup for League Cup final against Liverpool: Havertz and Pulisic again; no Lukaku!

Chelsea take on Liverpool in this year’s Carabao Cup final, a game that has been overshadowed by the war in Ukraine and the various issues concerning the ownership of the club. But there’s a game to be played and a trophy to be won, and a lineup to be picked.

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

No surprise from the WAGNH community at goalkeeper or in terms of the formation, though Édouard Mendy only collected about three-quarters of the vote instead of his usual 90%. Kepa’s cup heroics earned him 27%. Meanwhile, the trusty 3-4-3 easily beats out the 3-5-2 (12%) and all other options.

The voters were not clairvoyant and did not foresee Andreas Christensen’s late-breaking injury issue, and thus voted him into the starting lineup alongside Antonio Rüdiger and Thiago Silva. Trevoh Chalobah (15%), Malang Sarr (18%), or the returning Reece James (30%) might deputise, with Marcos Alonso and César Azpilicueta taking up the wing-back positions.

Mateo Kovačić gave us a brief injury scare midweek, but he’s said to be good to go. He thus beats out Jorginho (40%) as the starter next to N’Golo Kanté. Ruben Loftus-Cheek (5%), Saúl Niguez (1%), and Ross Barkley (1%) did not factor into the voting.

Only 21% of the community voted for Romelu Lukaku to start, which means that Kai Havertz leads the line, and is joined by Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech, who narrowly beat out a returning Mason Mount (51%). Timo Werner (17%) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (13%) collected even fewer votes than Lukaku.

3-4-3 (71%)
Mendy (73%) | Rüdiger (99%), Silva (99%), Christensen (71%) | Alonso (53%), Kanté (94%), Kovačić (69%), Azpilicueta (80%) | Pulisic (66%), Havertz (93%), Ziyech (64%)