Chelsea and Manchester City each have five EFL Cup titles to their name, tying them with Manchester United and Aston Villa for the second most in the history of the tournament. Only Liverpool have more titles (8) in the history of the domestic tournament which stretches back to 1961.
So the winner on Sunday will move into second place all by themselves. City are heavily favored, as you might expect. It’s not just because they annihilated Chelsea two weeks ago, the Sky Blues scored 10 goals in their semifinal tie of this tournament while the Blues scored eight in all rounds combined. Let’s take a look at who might be in the first teams for this clash.
The Bank Manchester City Starting XI Prediction EFL Cup Final
Forwards: Bernado Silva, Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling
Midfielders: Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Ilkay Gundogan
Defenders: Danilo Aymeric Laporte Vincent Kompany Kyle Walker
Goalkeeper: Ederson
The Bank Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction EFL Cup Final
Attack: Eden Hazard, Gonzalo Higuain, Willian
Midfield: N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, Ross Barkley
Defense: Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Antonio Rudiger, Marcos Alonso
Goalkeeper: Willy Caballero
EFL Cup FYIs
Kick-off: Sunday February 24, Wembley Stadium, 4:30 pm (BST), 10:30 am (CST)
Injury Report for both teams: go to this link
Odds via Betfair: Manchester City 11/20, Chelsea 9/2
Prediction: City 3, Chelsea 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.