Chelsea and Liverpool are set to play out the 2022 FA Cup final on Saturday afternoon.
Liverpool head into the game looking to take one step closer to the historic quadruple, whilst Chelsea are aiming to salvage what has been a very underwhelming season with some form of silverware.
The Blues are also looking to pick up their 9th FA Cup, last tasting victory in 2018, with Liverpool eyeing an 8th trophy and their first since all the way back in 2006.
Now, ahead of the game, 101 have pieced together a combined Liverpool and Chelsea eleven.
Five at the back
Liverpool operate with a back-four whilst Chelsea prefer a back five. But, given the sheer amount of quality defenders available on each side, we are opting to use a back-five for this eleven.
And whilst both Alisson and Edouard Mendy are top-class goalkeepers, Alisson has proven himself at the very top of the game for longer than his Chelsea counterpart, so he gets the nod from 101.
Moving into the back-five, both Reece James and Trent Alexander-Arnold are quality right-backs, with James the more defensively sound option. And, as we are playing a back-five, that means we can utilise them both, with Trent in a more attacking berth at right-wing-back and James as the right-sided centre-back – a position he has excelled in for Chelsea recently.
The remaining two centre-back spots go two Virgil van Dijk and Antonio Rudiger as they are arguably the two best stoppers from each side.
The defense is rounded out by Andy Robertson just edging out the injured Ben Chilwell for the left-wing-back position. Chilwell was instrumental to Chelsea’s early-season success from LWB, but Robertson has been the division’s best left-back for several years now.
Thiago over Jorginho
As we are playing a five at the back, we are using just two central midfielders. And, whilst one of our picks has been somewhat inconsistent of late due to injury, the midfield pivot does largely pick itself.
N’Golo Kante, on his day, is by far and away the best defensive midfielder from either side, whilst Thiago is an excellent creator and is generally able to impact a game more than Kante’s usual partner, Jorginho.
Liverpool dominate
This just leaves a front three and, though Chelsea do have some quality options, none are really able to compete with Liverpool’s current trident of Luis Diaz, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.
The likes of Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner have struggled for form, whilst Kai Havertz and Mason Mount are good options, just not as good as the Reds’ attack right now.
