Chelsea vs Liverpool LIVE: FA Cup final result, final score and reaction as Liverpool win penalty shootout

This will be Liverpool’s 43rd Wembley appearance in total. They have won 21 and lost 15, scoring 55 goals, with Ian Rush (10) having scored the most.

Liverpool have not lost any of the 42 matches this season in which they have scored the first goal of the game – 38 wins and four draws.

Can the Reds go on to lift the FA Cup for the first time since 2006?

Liverpool handed huge boost ahead of the FA Cup final as new stats reveal Jurgen Klopp’s squad have a superior record in finals than Chelsea players.

Here we consider the record of all players likely to appear in this years FA Cup Final and how they have previously got on when playing in major cup finals for club and country in the past.

Looking deep into Football Final Statistics research via OLBG, players in Jurgen Klopp’s squad have an average final win percentage of 62%, while Chelsea is considerably lower at 52%.

However, when it comes to the managers that trend reverses as Jurgen Klopp’s winning record is only 36% compared to 56% for Thomas Tuchel.

Thomas Tuchel makes just one change to the Chelsea team that started against Leeds in the Premier League last time out. Andreas Christensen is replaced in the back line with Thiago Silva.

Jurgen Klopp meanwhile makes five changes to the Liverpool starting XI that faced Aston Villa in their previous game. Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate come into the back line to replace Joel Matip and Kostas Tsimikas. In midfield Fabinho is out through injury and Curtis Jones drops to the bench as Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcantara slot in. Mo Salah also returns taking the place of Diogo Jota in the front three.

Chelsea XI: Mendy, Chalobah, Silva, Rudiger, James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso, Mount, Pulisic, Lukaku

Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Keita, Henderson, Thiago; Salah, Mane, Diaz

The atmosphere is building nicely at Wembley as the fans start to flock to the stadium.

Since the turn of the millennium, Liverpool and Chelsea have met 68 times, with the Reds winning 24 matches, two fewer than the Blues’ 2 and there have ben 18 matches ending in a draw.

From the players who appeared in the 2012 FA Cup final meeting between Chelsea and Liverpool only Jordan Henderson remains at either club.

Following on from this season’s Carabao Cup final, this will be the first FA Cup final to be contested between two managers from Germany with no German manager having ever won the competition.

This is also the first time since Arsenal vs Sheffield Wednesday in 1993 that both domestic cup finals in a season have been contested by the same two teams.

Will Liverpool come out on top once again or is it Chelsea’s turn to lift the silverware?

Timo Werner started in the FA Cup final last year when Chelsea lost 1-0 to Leicester and came on in the second half of the Carabao Cup final back in February but despite scoring a penalty in the shootout Werner was on the losing end of another domestic cup final with the Blues.

He gets another opportunity to collect a trophy today as Chelsea take on Liverpool at Wembley in what Werner believes will be a ‘very good game’

“The FA Cup final is always a nice game and with the stadium in Wembley full, the two sides, Chelsea and Liverpool, the atmosphere will be very good,” he said. “I think against Leicester it was also a very good game, a lot of fun to play, but we were unlucky we didn’t win it. This time I think there will be much more atmosphere. We had this in the Carabao Cup final and the FA Cup semi-final. We want to win this cup and the Chelsea fans will support us very good.

“Chelsea against Liverpool has always been very, very good games. A lot of fun for the people to watch and also very good for us players. This season we haven’t lost one game against them, we always played very good, and that gives us a lot of confidence to go into this game and say we want to win it.

“I think the reasons why the games have been good is they are open games, both teams want to win. No one is sitting deep and defending, both want to have the ball, both teams want to attack. Both teams have very fast players as well to attack the goal. “It was always up and down in those games this season and in the Carabao Cup final at the end, it was a shame that it was 0-0. I think it could be 3-3. So always good games and hopefully again this time.”

There is always a sense of theatre around matches between Chelsea and Liverpool. The teams meet today at Wembley in the FA Cup final and if the match has anything like the drama of February’s EFL Cup final, it will be a classic.

Jurgen Klopp’s team emerged victorious three months ago after a humdinger of a 0-0 draw and a penalty shootout where the tension built to unbearable levels. For much of the past two decades there have been attempts to manufacture a rivalry between the clubs that goes beyond the natural levels of antagonism. This fixture has not needed an extra helping of friction. It has an edge that goes back way beyond the Jose Mourinho-Rafa Benitez period of the 2000s and some of the first shots were fired in the FA Cup.

Both clubs took a long time to make an impact on the world’s oldest knockout tournament. Their 1965 semi-final showdown had huge significance. One of the cliches used around the cup is that it gives a chance for “unfashionable teams” to capture the public imagination. In the mid-60s, Liverpool and Chelsea were the most fashionable sides in the game.

Thomas Tuchel has branded Jurgen Klopp “the master of being the underdog” as he praised his compatriot for fostering a countrywide “sympathy” for Liverpool.

Pep Guardiola lit a fuse between his Manchester City side and Klopp’s Liverpool by claiming “everyone in this country” wants the Reds to pull off an unprecedented quadruple this season.

Liverpool could yet sweep the board of Premier League, League Cup, FA Cup and Champions League.

But Chelsea can thwart Liverpool’s bid to break new ground in English football by beating Klopp’s men in Saturday’s FA Cup final at Wembley.