EFL Cup final: Liverpool's route to Wembley ahead of Chelsea showdown

Bidding to take the first step towards an unprecedented quadruple in Jurgen Klopp's farewell campaign, Liverpool already have a record nine EFL Cup titles glistening in the cabinet, and Sunday's game will also mark an unrivalled 14th appearance in the trophy match for the Merseyside giants.

Also competing for FA Cup and Europa League stardom alongside their Premier League feats, Liverpool head south on a three-game winning streak in the top flight, notching 11 goals while putting Brentford, Burnley and Luton Town to the sword.

Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at Liverpool's route to Wembley as they endeavour to reach double figures in EFL Cup triumphs.

Third round - Liverpool 3-1 Leicester City

For the second time in the space of two seasons, Liverpool would be forced to navigate a Leicester City-sized test to progress in the FA Cup, having emerged victorious on penalties after a 3-3 draw in the 2021-22 last 16.

That year, Leicester were defending FA Cup champions under the wing of erstwhile Reds coach Brendan Rodgers, but fast-forward two years, and the Foxes travelled to Anfield for the third round amid their quest to bounce back into the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Enzo Maresca's Foxes silenced the Kop with just three minutes on the board, as Kasey McAteer finished off a sweeping Leicester counter-attack, and the Championship pace-setters entered the tunnel for half time with their slender lead intact.

However, the visitors had only awakened the Liverpool beast, as Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota and Dominik Szoboszlai found the mark in the second period to send the Reds through to round four via a trademark come-from-behind triumph.

Fourth round - Bournemouth 1-2 Liverpool

Eight months on from their excruciating 1-0 Premier League loss to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, Liverpool would weather another South Coast storm - albeit a weather-related one - on the Cherries' turf in the fourth round of the 2023-24 EFL Cup.

Bournemouth entered the contest on the back of their first-ever Premier League triumph under Andoni Iraola at the 10th time of asking, but just after the half-hour mark on November 1, Gakpo was in the right place at the right time to poke in from Harvey Elliott's saved attempt.

The revitalised Cherries were not waving the white flag in the blustery winds, though, as with 64 minutes on the board, Justin Kluivert got his head to an Alex Scott corner to get the hosts back in the contest.

However, Iraola's troops were only on level terms for all of six minutes, as playmaking aficionado Trent Alexander-Arnold teed up Darwin Nunez for the decisive strike in the 70th minute, and subsequent Bournemouth efforts to peg Liverpool back a second time were in vain.

Quarter-final - Liverpool 5-1 West Ham United

The travelling West Ham United faithful had a few reasons for optimism ahead of their quarter-final encounter with the Reds, whom they had defeated in their last knockout battle in the 2015-16 FA Cup, and their penchant for elimination ties culminated in Europa Conference League glory in 2022-23.

Not much could separate Klopp's men and David Moyes's troops in the first half on December 20, but the Reds still entered half time ahead owing to a Szoboszlai strike, which preceded a second-half onslaught from the Merseyside giants.

Two from Curtis Jones and one each for Gakpo and Mohamed Salah all contributed to the decimation of the Hammers, who briefly reduced the deficit through Jarrod Bowen before conceding twice more to dampen their fans' festive spirit.

A few chances to add to their advantage presented themselves to Liverpool, who ultimately declared at five as they hit a quintet of home goals against West Ham for the first time since 1998, although Moyes had no regrets about making a multitude of changes to his XI amid the fixture pile-up.

Semi-final - Liverpool 3-2 Fulham (agg)

Only a month on from sharing seven goals with Fulham during an extraordinary Premier League showdown, 180 minutes with the Cottagers - who had already sent fellow Merseyside foes Everton packing in the quarters - would stand in the way of Liverpool and another Wembley date.

A familiar tale briefly befell the Reds in the first leg at Anfield, where Willian worked a yard of space and managed to fire first for Marco Silva's men in the 19th minute, and Klopp's troops had no response in what remained of the first half.

However, the customary second-half fightback soon took centre stage, as Jones levelled for the Reds with a fortuitous deflected strike before substitutes Gakpo and Nunez combined for the winning goal just three minutes later, seeing Liverpool travel to Craven Cottage with a slender lead to protect or extend.

The latter scenario materialised with just 11 minutes gone in West London, where Luis Diaz increased the visitors' aggregate advantage, and even though former Liverpool man Harry Wilson set up Issa Diop to give Fulham a sliver of hope, the Reds would not need the lottery of a penalty shootout to reach final number 14.