Chelsea seek to stop the rot

Cardiff - Jose Mourinho may have scoffed at the suggestion, but there is no doubting that Chelsea go into Sunday's League Cup final against Liverpool here under greater pressure than they have experienced since their outspoken manager arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer.

Back-to-back defeats by Newcastle and Barcelona have left Chelsea out of the FA Cup and with their Champions League ambitions hanging by the finest of threads.

Mourinho was justified in pointing out that his rivals would love to be sitting on the commanding lead Chelsea enjoy in the Premiership as well as having a Millennium Stadium final to look forward to.

But nevertheless the signs of strain have been evident all week and a Liverpool side that has had its confidence bolstered by their Champions League win over Bayer Leverkusen should provide a stern test of the resilience that Mourinho has strived to instil in his squad.

Chelsea have edged the two previous encounters between the clubs this season, both of them by a 1-0 margin courtesy of goals from Joe Cole.

But Liverpool were desperately unlucky to lose at Anfield and there was a distinctly bullish tone emanating from Merseyside in the build up to the match.

Like Mourinho, the Reds manager Rafael Benitez is seeking to secure what he hopes will be the first of many trophies for his new employers.

And the Spaniard believes the return of captain Steven Gerrard and striker Fernando Morientes to his line-up could make the difference in Cardiff.

Gerrard was suspended for the 3-1 win over Leverkusen while Morientes was ineligible having played for Real Madrid earlier in the competition.

"It's important to have Gerrard and Morientes back for us," Benitez underlined. "They are both winners. Gerrard is our captain and has won trophies with Liverpool before while Morientes has experience of playing well against Chelsea last season for Monaco in the Champions League."

In terms of the tournament, Liverpool are the side with the pedigree. While Chelsea are still seeking their first win, the Reds have lifted the Cup a record seven times already, most recently when they beat Manchester United in the final two years ago.

Giant centreback Sami Hyypia was outstanding that day and is hoping for another disciplined display on Sunday afternoon.

"For me, it is important that we stay tight as a defensive unit and I'd much prefer us to win 1-0 than say 5-4, like we did against Alaves in (the 2002 UEFA Cup final) in Dortmund."

The Finn added: "We have good memories of playing the League Cup Final in Cardiff and we hope to continue our good record this weekend.

"As we've seen this week, Chelsea are not unbeatable. We played a very good game against them at Anfield and we will take heart from that performance.

"We are pretty confident after the result against Leverkusen in midweek. We have suffered from inconsistency this season but we know what we have to do to put things right."

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin