Chelsea 'need everything to be at its highest level' to beat Liverpool in FA Cup final

“We know what’s coming,” writes Thomas Tuchel, the Chelsea manager, in his notes in the matchday magazine that will go on sale at Wembley at Saturday’s FA Cup final. “Liverpool will come at you with full speed, high intensity and the highest quality.”

Tuchel knows what’s coming as acutely as any coach working in elite football because he has been taking on Jurgen Klopp, his German compatriot for the last 13 years, on and off, scrapping in the Bundesliga, pitting wits in knockout games and most recently negotiating gripping stalemates.

His Chelsea have spent more time sharing a pitch with Liverpool than any other team this season. The encouraging news for Tuchel, ahead of what he describes as a daunting task, is that Chelsea have withstood the Liverpool juggernaut very capably compared with most others confronted with it.

In January at Stamford Bridge, Liverpool came at Chelsea with all the maximum intensity and speed Tuchel identifies. They were 2-0 up barely a quarter of the way through what was, at the stage, a meeting between clubs separated by a point at second and third in the Premier League. Chelsea recovered to draw 2-2, the only English side other than Manchester City to have taken so much as a point at home against Klopp’s dynamic travellers in 2022.

Back in August, Chelsea held Liverpool 1-1 at Anfield in the Premier League and did so reduced to 10 men, after Reece James’s sending-off, for half the contest. Viewed through the lens of the momentum Klopp’s team have built up since then, it looks an outstanding result. Only four Premier League visitors have gone to Anfield this season and escaped with a draw. No English opponent has won there this term.

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