Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has said Liverpool are favourites 'for sure' ahead of the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.
The west-London outfit have suffered six successive defeats at the national stadium, two of them being against Liverpool in 2022 on penalties.
Victory against The Reds would be Chelsea's first piece of silverware since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital acquired the club from Roman Abramovich in May 2022. Boehly will be in attendance alongside co-owner Behdad Eghbali.
Jurgen Klopp claimed that Liverpool, top of the Premier League, are 'definitely not' favourites for the final earlier this week.
Asked about Klopp's comments, the Chelsea manager insisted his counterpart is playing mindgames. He said: "Yes because he is one of the best, with Pep [Guardiola], coaches in the world and he is clever enough, and he knows, that when you arrive and play a final, there are always circumstances that can happen. Of course, if they are not the favourites, then we are not the favourites.
"If he said that, this means Liverpool are favourites because after eight years, in the last few years, they have the experience to compete like a team and be involved in different finals.
"For me, our players are not only new in this competition, in the Premier League or the Carabao Cup, but for some of them it is maybe their first final. That is why it makes them favourites. But he's clever enough to say 50-50. For sure [they are favourites]. He knows that."
Pochettino is yet to win a trophy in England following five years at Tottenham before making the switch to Stamford Bridge.
He added: "It means a lot for us, the coaching staff, to have the possibility to arrive on the final and to challenge a team like Liverpool to win our first title here.
"It's a dream for us. And of course, we have 90 minutes to achieve that and yes, we are going to fight. The team is ready, we are going to be very competitive and it is a massive chance for us.
"What you learn is that Liverpool is a very competitive team and how they can play well, so well, very good and not so good, but they are going to always be competitive. We need to match that competitive[ness], we need to be competitive, ready to manage some moments during the games.
"I think in the last few weeks, we are learning a lot and we have stepped up from that. I think we arrive in a very good moment, a very good condition.
"It's like a click to change in the way to compete that we were missing maybe in the first part of the competition, of the season, but there are too many things, for sure."
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Thiago Silva facing late fitness test
Thiago Silva could be in contention for Wembley after missing the draw against Manchester City through a groin injury.
The Brazilian, 39, resumed partial training on Friday and will be assessed further tomorrow.
His contract is due to expire at the end of the season and Sunday could be his final chance to lift silverware for The Blues.
Marc Cucurella has also re-joined partial training, whilst Benoit Badiashile, Carney Chukwemenka, Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Romeo Lavia and Lesley Ugochukwu remain sidelined.
On injuries, the manager said: "I think we need to assess to see whether they can be involved on Sunday. Yes, I will communicate tomorrow if we recovered players from training.
"Yes, he [Thiago Silva] has the chance. Tomorrow, we will see if he is ready to play."
