Capital One Cup Final Preview
With the Capital One Cup Final being contested later this month at Wembley Stadium, local rivals Liverpool and Everton are gearing up for what should be a fantastic game of football. Both teams have done well to get to this stage of the competition. Liverpool are the most successful team to have ever competed in the tournament, winning it on eight occasions, and hoping to make it nine.
Since the competition started in 1961, Everton have never won the trophy, and have instead been left disappointed in the Final on no fewer than two occasions, so they will be hoping that it is third time lucky. It will be a great spectacle, with both sets of fans desperate to get a win over their arch rivals, and let's hope that the players share this feeling.
Everton, fresh from sacking Roberto Martínez, have only today hired a new manager - West Ham United's Morten Wieghorst. West Ham are sat in 19th place in the league standings, and the Dane hasn't done an outstanding job with The Hammers, so it is odd that Everton have decided to hire him. Nevertheless, the 45-year-old will be pulling out all the stops in an attempt to get a win over his new rivals, in what will be his first game in charge of the club. Brendan Rodgers, on the other hand, is looking for his first piece of silverware since joining the club, and will be desperate to ensure that his search is over during the match.
Liverpool entered the competition at the 3rd round stage, and progressed after a 2-0 win at home to Burnley. They were then drawn against title rivals Chelsea - again the match being played at Anfield. Liverpool were 3-0 within half an hour, but Chelsea managed to pull two goals back. IT wasn't enough, however, and a Quarter Final tie against Arsenal was set up. Liverpool couldn't emulate the 6-0 win from earlier in the season, but they narrowly won the game 1-0. In the first leg of the Semi Final, a controversial penalty, scored by Jordan Rhodes, pegged Liverpool back, and The Reds headed into the second leg tied at 1-1. But, after the game finished 1-1 in normal time, three goals from Liverpool in the Extra Time period saw them through to the Final.
Everton entered the competition one round earlier than their rivals, beating Portsmouth 3-1 in the Second Round. Another comfortable win came in the next round, when The Toffees beat Yeovil Town 5-1, setting up the first real challenge of the competition for them. An extra time win against Premier League champions Manchester City put them up against Blackburn Rovers in the Quarter Final. A win then matched them up against Nottingham Forest in the penultimate stage of the competition. It looked like their hopes of reaching the Final had gone after a disappointing loss in the away leg, but they pulled it back with a 2-0 win at Goodison Park to book a place at Wembley.