Blues desperate to avenge League Cup defeat by Reds

LONDON • Ruben Loftus-Cheek said Chelsea have their sights set on revenge over Liverpool in the FA Cup final after the midfielder's goal inspired a 2-0 win against Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Chelsea will face the Reds on May 14 in a repeat of this year's League Cup final, which Jurgen Klopp's side won on penalties after a goal-less draw.

The Blues are desperate to avenge that Wembley shoot-out loss, in which Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga blazed over to hand the trophy to Liverpool.

It will be the first time since 1992-93 that the same two teams contest the League Cup and FA Cup finals.

On that occasion, Arsenal twice beat Sheffield Wednesday and Loftus-Cheek is determined to avoid history repeating itself with a second Liverpool triumph.

"We want to get them back, simple as that. It was a fantastic game in the League Cup final and could have gone either way," he said. "So we'll look forward to that and we'll look forward to getting our revenge."

Loftus-Cheek's role on Sunday was a cathartic moment for the midfielder. The 26-year-old spent the 2017-18 season on loan at Palace and has struggled to hold down a regular place at Chelsea.

Even this season, he has been in and out of Thomas Tuchel's side, but the Englishman is finally showing signs of fulfilling his potential.

Said Tuchel: "Hopefully, it is a big moment for Ruben. It was nice because he is normally a very calm, quiet guy and to see him like this and jumping and celebrating a goal was good.

"He is the opposite of overconfident, we need to instil this confidence into his body and into his game."

Like Loftus-Cheek, the Blues' other scorer Mason Mount has called on his teammates to snap their losing streak in cup finals at Wembley and avenge their League Cup final defeat when they take to the field for their third straight FA Cup final next month.

Since beating Manchester United to win the 2018 FA Cup, Chelsea have lost to Leicester City and Arsenal in the last two years while also suffering defeats in the League Cup, by Liverpool in February and Manchester City in 2019.

"It's definitely time for us to win a final at Wembley. For myself, it's been five finals at Wembley, five finals I've lost," said Mount, who has finished as a runner-up in three domestic finals since his breakthrough at Chelsea in 2019-20.

The 23-year-old was also part of the England team who lost to Italy in the Euro 2020 final, and was on loan at Championship side Derby County when they fell short against Aston Villa in the Championship promotion play-off in May 2019.

"(Palace) is a game we used to bounce back," Mount added, after holders Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals last Tuesday.

"It was a very, very tough game. They (Palace) made it difficult for us. The way we came through showed character.

"Now we have to put the pressure on ourselves to step up... It's time to get our payback."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS