Jurgen Klopp's assistant Pep Lijnders has warned Liverpool that they must be on their best game if they are to come out on the right side in the Carabao Cup Final against a 'top team' in the form of Chelsea.
Both teams are looking to add more silverware to their ever-growing trophy cabinets, with Liverpool aiming to make this trophy their first of the season, whilst Chelsea are aiming for their third.
Thomas Tuchel's side have already accumulated the FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup title to add to their Champions League success of last season.
But this is a trophy that has evaded both sides in the past, with the pair's last appearance in a Carabao Cup Final coming against Manchester City for both clubs.
Unsurprisingly, considering how strong Pep Guardiola's side have been in this competition in recent years, Liverpool and Chelsea both lost on penalties when they faced the Cityzens in their respective finals back in 2016 and 2019.
On those two occasions, Willy Caballero was the hero against Klopp's side at the time in the shootout, whilst Kepa Arrizabalaga was the villain of the whole piece for the Blues after his infamous incident with Maurizio Sarri.
Now that Man City have finally succumbed in this competition to West Ham United earlier in this season's competition, their rivals now have a chance to etch their names on a trophy that hasn't been won by either since Chelsea's success under Jose Mourinho against Spurs back in 2015.
From a Liverpool point of view, Lijnders has sent his side a four-word warning about the opposition they will be competing against on Sunday.
"They are a top team," he said to Liverpool FC.
He then went to analyse Chelsea's strengths that his side need to be switched on to: "It feels like they always find spaces we leave; for example, we leave space behind our strikers, they use, we leave space behind our lines, they use, we leave space on the opposite side, they use.
"They are not an easy opponent to defend against, so we have to be spot on and we need to really have a clear idea and a clear plan on how to attack them defensively.
"We know we can hurt them with the ball, so that's what we have to prepare and hope for. It's good that we have played them twice already so we know more or less what we can expect.
"We really look forward to it, it's always good that you play these good games because it means you can become better as well."
The two previous clashes ended in 1-1 and 2-2 draws, most recently with Mateo Kovacic's wonder strike in the Stamford Bridge game completing a remarkable turnaround for the west Londoners.
Klopp's No. 2 wants to use the lessons learned in each of the two encounters played out so far this term against the European Champions to Liverpool's benefit, as they aim to win a trophy never lifted during the German's time at Anfield.
"Yeah, we always do, we always try to, but always with the idea that they do as well. " Lijnders said when asked about the previous two encounters and whether they will be used in the pre-match analysis.
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"Things can change. Look at Norwich, for example - they completely changed their approach towards us to what they'd done in their last game.
"Normally the best teams don't change and they keep their own idea and they want to make it dominant from their side, so I think we can expect that from Chelsea.
"It will be 90 minutes or 120 minutes, but we will fight to stop them and to cut pathways to their best players will be really important."
