The bridesmaid battles the bride in Sunday's tantalising EFL Cup final, where a silverware-starved Newcastle United hope to wrestle the trophy out of Liverpool's grasp under the Wembley arch.
By the close of play on March 16, Arne Slot would have either won his maiden honour in English football, or the Magpies would have ended a torturous trophy drought which is about to hit 70 years exactly.
Match preview
Formerly Manchester City's bread-and-butter competition, Liverpool have since become the EFL Cup's dominant force as they endeavour to retain the title they clinched this time last year, having also broken Chelsea hearts in the 2021-22 showpiece too.
Already boasting more League Cup successes than any other team in history - a terrific 10 - the Reds' eight FA Cup crowns means that they could claim a 19th domestic cup honour in English football, thus drawing level with the all-time record held by bitter adversaries Manchester United.
West Ham United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur have been no match for Liverpool during their unstoppable surge to Wembley, where victory would surely see them complete 50% of a domestic double as they lie 15 points clear of Arsenal at the Premier League summit.
However, Slot's men will not be celebrating Champions League title number seven this spring, having succumbed to a dramatic but ultimately deserved last-16 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties, as Gianluigi Donnarumma repeated his 12-yard heroics in England almost four years on from doing so in the Euro 2020 final.
The men in blue exploded into euphoria in Wembley that year, and the men in red also have good reason to believe that they will be collecting their winners' medals on Sunday; on each of the last four occasions that the reigning EFL Cup champions have reached the final the following season, they have gone on to win it.
There should not be a single team in the whole of the British Isles more determined to buck that trend than Newcastle, who are still reliving the glory days of the 1955 FA Cup final, the last time that they ever got their hands on a major piece of silverware.
With Eddie Howe at the helm, however, they came within a whisker of ending that lengthy drought during the 2022-23 edition, only to fall to Manchester United's superiority in the capital; that gut-wrenching defeat marked their fifth in a row on domestic cup finals.
In fact, only Chelsea are on a longer run of successive defeats in EFL Cup and FA Cup showpiece matches - the Blues have lost six on the spin since 2019 - and Sunday represents the Magpies' only shot at glory this term following their chaotic FA Cup exit to Brighton & Hove Albion two weeks ago.
The Magpies have since responded by eking out a 1-0 Premier League win at West Ham United on Monday, choosing an ideal time to keep their first clean sheet in five games, having conceded at least two goals in each of their previous five appearances before that slender success.
However, one of those poor defensive displays came in a 2-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield just a matter of weeks ago, which made it 17 straight games without a win for Newcastle against the reigning EFL Cup champions, another bad omen before their quest for an incredibly long-awaited slice of stardom.
Team News
The news that all Reds fans feared was confirmed by Slot on Friday morning, as the Liverpool manager conceded that Trent Alexander-Arnold would miss the final owing to the injury he suffered against PSG in the Champions League.
Alexander-Arnold's absence coupled with Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley's hamstring injuries means that Slot is without a single senior right-back for the trip to Wembley, where Jarell Quansah is expected to fill the void, although the Dutchman also name-checked Curtis Jones as a wild-card option in his press conference.
In brighter news, Slot expects Ibrahima Konate - who was also forced off at Anfield in midweek - to be available on Sunday, otherwise he will have little choice but to introduce Wataru Endo as Virgil van Dijk's defensive partner.
Tyler Morton (shoulder) is also missing for the holders but would not have started anyway.
Alexander-Arnold is not the only celebrated English full-back who will be watching on helplessly on Sunday, as Newcastle's Lewis Hall will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury and joins Sven Botman (knee) and Jamaal Lascelles (knee) in the Magpies' treatment room this weekend.
In addition, Anthony Gordon's moment of madness in the FA Cup loss to Brighton means that the ex-Reds youngster is suspended for the trip to Wembley, although his deputy - Harvey Barnes - provided the assist for Bruno Guimaraes's winner against West Ham.
Barnes and Jacob Murphy will take on supporting roles either side of Alexander Isak, who has been involved in four goals from five previous meetings with Liverpool, while the towering figure of Dan Burn starts in defence after his first-ever call-up to the senior England squad.
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Kelleher; Quansah, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Salah, Szoboszlai, Diaz; Gakpo
Newcastle United possible starting lineup:
Dubravka; Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento; Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton; Murphy, Isak, Barnes
We say: Liverpool 2-1 Newcastle United
If Murphy, Isak and Barnes can channel their inner Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Slot's depleted backline - especially his ravaged right-hand side - could be in for another rough ride.
However, the Magpies have been far from convincing on the defensive front themselves in recent weeks, and whether a group of players possessing far less cup-final experience than Liverpool can bear the weight of expectation remains to be seen.
A closely-contested battle should still be expected, especially with Howe's side also boasting the fresher set of legs, but Slot still has our vote to mastermind a narrow victory and enjoy his first trophy lift in English football.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
