EFL Cup Final Preview
Manchester United face Southampton as Saints look to end 4I years of hurt
Manchester United meet Southampton the English Football League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday for the first proper silverware of the English domestic season. Jose Mourinho and his Manchester United side are no strangers to Wembley. The club lifted the FA Cup there last season under the Portuguese’s predecessor Louis van Gaal, while Mourinho oversaw a United victory over Leicester City in the Community Shield at the start of this campaign in his first competitive game in charge.
Southampton have not been to Wembley since they lifted the Football League Trophy in 2010 as a League One (third tier) side. They have risen up to establish themselves as a Premier League mainstay in the intervening years and will want to add the EFL Cup as their first major trophy since 1976 when they won the FA Cup. Their opponents on that May day were Manchester United and Saints fans will be in heaven if they can repeat that 1-0 scoreline of 41 years ago.
Meanwhile, those supporting the team in red on Sunday will console themselves that they are the most successful club in England. More often than not, they come away from visits to Wembley with silverware, although their record in the League Cup – as the trophy was known before its recent rebrand – is not their most impressive. Victory on Sunday would be only their fifth League Cup title, well behind the Premier League (20) and FA Cup (12). In fact, they have lost as many League Cup finals as they have won, and they have not featured in the final since the second of back-to-back wins in 2010. The man tasked with adding a fifth League Cup title, Mourinho, will want to extend his own winning streak in the competition and add to the three times he won it while in charge of Chelsea. He’ll also want to further his impressive record in finals, where he has won 10 of the 11 he has contested as a manager.
Impressive record
Looking to become only the second manager to prevail over Mourinho in a cup final is Southampton’s Claude Puel. Like his opposite number on Sunday, this is his first season at the club, so reaching a final is no mean feat but it was much more unexpected under the Frenchman. Since coming in to replace Ronald Koeman, who departed for Everton, Puel has been a divisive figure for the fans who have come to expect a certain flair from their team since they returned to the Premier League, which was delivered by both Koeman and the man he replaced, current Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino. Puel has not delivered that on a regular basis but he has successfully navigated the club’s annual loss of its best players in the transfer market. Last summer they sold Sadio Mane to Liverpool, Victor Wanyama to Pochettino’s Spurs and Graziano Pelle to Shandong Luneng in the Chinese Super League. They also lost club captain Jose Fonte in the winter window, with the Portuguese defender going to West Ham after months of speculation around his future that had linked him to Manchester United.
Southampton sit comfortably in mid-table in the Premier Leaue and whatever the fans may think of his side’s attacking verve, or lack thereof, reaching a final is something that neither Koeman nor Pochettino achieved. They beat four Premier League teams to get to Wembley and, more encouragingly, they have come into form of late. Their semifinal saw them win both games over Liverpool, 1-0 at home and the same scoreline at Anfield, but Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said his side should have lost the first leg 3-0. Added to that, in their last Premier League outing, Sotuhampton put four goals past Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Long anticipated
That was two weeks ago, which is either ideal preparation for contesting a final or too long without a competitive game. Meanwhile, Manchester United have played two legs of the Europa League and an FA Cup game since Southampton picked up those three points against Sunderland. While it means they should be fresh – and come into the game on the back of another three wins on the bounce – it has not come without cost. Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Michael Carrick both picked up injuries against SaintEtienne on Wednesday and are set to miss the game at Wembley, so Mourinho has a dilemma as to who to play. This offers a chance for Wayne Rooney to come in from the cold in what may be his last final for the club, with the record scorer repeatedly linked with a move to the Chinese Super League before their transfer window closes next week.
What is certain is that Mourinho will start both world record signing Paul Pogba, for whom a first trophy would begin to justify his world price tag, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a man whose trophy cabinet is almost as big as his ego. These are just two of the players at the Portuguese boss’ disposal who have experience of winning trophies, which may prove to be decisive. United won 2-0 when the teams met in the league earlier this season but that’s not to say the trophy will remain in Manchester – City won it last year – they could be celebrating silverware on the south coast for the first time in 41 years.