The Big Question: Who will win the first silverware of this season?

Football writer Ben Bloom looks ahead to the EFL Cup final between Liverpool and Newcastle United at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

Here it is, an opportunity for one of Britain’s best-supported clubs to end their extraordinarily long silverware drought, and a chance for one of the biggest to retain their trophy and make history in the process.

Sunday’s EFL Cup final between Newcastle United and Liverpool offers very different things to the victor.

Already 15 points clear at the top of the Premier League, Liverpool are on a seemingly unstoppable course to win at least one piece of silverware this season.

Victory for them on Sunday would equal Manchester United’s all-time record of 19 domestic cups won (FA Cup and EFL Cup). It would also provide a first trophy of the Arne Slot era, at a venue the Dutchman has never even visited, Wembley Stadium.

Few Newcastle supporters have ever seen their side win a trophy. Their last one was lifted in 1968/69, when they won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup - widely considered the predecessor of the UEFA Cup and more recently the UEFA Europa League.

Newcastle have lost their last five cup finals, including a 2-0 defeat against Man Utd in the 2022/23 EFL Cup final. It is now 70 years since they last tasted domestic glory, in the 1954/55 FA Cup, and in those seven decades, Liverpool have lifted 42 pieces of silverware at home or in Europe.

Trophies won by Liverpool since Newcastle's last domestic silverware

Head-to-head history

This is a fixture with plenty of history. In the early days of the Premier League, last-minute goals earned Liverpool 4-3 victories at Anfield across successive seasons in 1995/96 and 1996/97.

More recently, Newcastle struck at the death in a thrilling 3-3 draw last December.

Of the 187 meetings between the two clubs in all competitions, Liverpool have won 93 and Newcastle 49, while their only previous meeting in a final came in the FA Cup in 1974, when Liverpool won 3-0.

Lately, the rivalry has been alarmingly entirely one-sided. Newcastle are winless in their last 17 encounters with Liverpool, dating back to a 2-0 win at St James' Park in December 2015.

Slot’s side achieved a surprisingly routine 2-0 Premier League triumph at Anfield just over a fortnight ago, when Newcastle managed just three shots all match, with none on target.

Crucially, talismanic forward Alexander Isak was absent that day.

Form guide

Preparations for this final have differed markedly. Liverpool’s players must not only overcome the mental disappointment of a painful UEFA Champions League exit to Paris Saint-Germain in midweek, but also the physical and mental exertions that come with 120 minutes of football followed by a penalty shootout.

Newcastle gained a morale-boosting win at West Ham United on Monday, which followed a stuttering recent run that included an FA Cup fifth-round exit, that Isak-less defeat at Liverpool and a heavy Premier League defeat at Manchester City.

Liverpool’s last five results

L: 0-1 v Paris Saint-Germain (H), Champions League
W: 3-1 v Southampton (H), Premier League
W: 1-0 v Paris Saint-Germain (A), Champions League
W: 2-0 v Newcastle (H), Premier League
W: 2-0 v Manchester City (A), Premier League

Newcastle’s last five results

W: 1-0 v West Ham (A), Premier League
L: 1-2 v Brighton & Hove Albion (H), FA Cup
L: 0-2 v Liverpool (A), Premier League
W: 4-3 v Nottingham Forest (H), Premier League
L: 0-4 v Manchester City (A), Premier League

In a week when reports have suggested Newcastle are hoping to develop a new 65,000-seater stadium adjacent to their current St James’ Park site, an end to their long trophy drought is imperative to the club’s bold aspirations of climbing to the top of the English pyramid in the next five years.

While not of much relevance to high-flying Liverpool, the winners will be guaranteed a UEFA Conference League spot next season.

That could prove to be of importance to Newcastle, who currently sit sixth in the Premier League. But if they qualify for the Champions League or UEFA Europa League, the Conference League spot will be passed to the next highest-ranked team in the table at the end of the season.

Team news

Unsurprisingly, given the raft of matches across different competitions at this late point of the season, neither team will be at full strength.

Liverpool’s main absentee is Trent Alexander-Arnold, who picked up an ankle injury in the defeat to PSG on Tuesday. With Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez also ruled out, new England call-up Jarell Quansah is likely to fill in at right-back.

Newcastle’s primary problems are on their left side, with Lewis Hall’s foot injury ruling him out for the rest of the season and Anthony Gordon suspended following his red card against Brighton & Hove Albionin the FA Cup.

What the managers said

Arne Slot

On having such a big game after Champions League exit

“It’s maybe the perfect game but I think our nine games in the league are going to be finals as well, so if we had to play for the league on Sunday, I think we would have been up for it also.

“But yeah, it’s always nice to play for a trophy, it’s always nice to win something. Although it is nine finals in the Premier League, the upcoming [next league] game will not be the one where we can win something, so now this is the last game of the tournament and it’s against Newcastle.

“So, it’s going to be an interesting occasion and something to look forward to."

On the final presenting Newcastle with a bigger opportunity than Liverpool

“I don’t go along with it. If you reach a final, it is always a big moment for them and also for us.

“We have two cups in this country, but you cannot take it for granted. We don’t play a final every year.”

Eddie Howe

On comparisons with his side’s 2023 EFL Cup final defeat

“It does feel different. This season’s felt different in the sense that I think we’ve just gone about our business in a really calm, controlled, professional way.

“We’ve sort of just gone from round to round and now we’ve ended up in the final. There’s been a lot less emotion. There’s been a lot less noise, I think, outside. So hopefully that helps us in our performance in the game.”

On ending Newcastle’s long trophy drought

“It’s a difficult one because I think a lot’s made of that. Of course, I understand why. But I think it’s a real motivation for us to try and break that long time and that long wait that everyone’s feeling.

“It should be inspiring for us, not a negative. I understand it will be a negative or a perceived negative for a lot of people, but we’re trying to look at it the other way round.

“It’s a chance to make history for us as a team. That’s very rare in football. You get very few opportunities to do that, a chance to be remembered positively.”

Form duo

In Isak and Mohamed Salah, the match will also bring together two of this season’s most lethal Premier League players.

Most points won by player goals & assists

Highest involvement in team goals

Most goals + assists combined

However, only one of them, Isak or Salah, will get their hands on the EFL Cup after ascending Wembley’s famous steps on Sunday.