Liverpool will aim to win a record-breaking ninth EFL Cup crown when Chelsea await them in Sunday's final at Wembley Stadium.

The Reds have won the tournament eight times in the past but not since defeating Cardiff City in the 2011-12 edition, with Manchester City moving level with their Merseyside counterparts following their own spate of dominance.

Victory in the EFL Cup final would keep Liverpool's hopes of an unprecedented quadruple alive, with Jurgen Klopp's men still fighting in the Champions League and FA Cup and now within touching distance of Man City in the Premier League table.

Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at Liverpool's route to the EFL Cup final, which will mark their 13th appearance in the showpiece event of this competition.

THIRD ROUND - NORWICH CITY 0-3 LIVERPOOL

© Reuters

Klopp has never been one to express his admiration for the EFL Cup, and the Reds unsurprisingly sent a youthful side out onto the Carrow Road turf to do battle with Norwich City in round three.

Nevertheless, it took all of four minutes for the Reds to propel themselves into the ascendancy through Takumi Minamino's finish, although Caoimhin Kelleher was then called upon to keep out Christos Tzolis's penalty.

Liverpool gave themselves a comfortable margin in the 50th minute as Divock Origi headed home from Kostas Tsimikas's cross, and with the tie already settled heading into the final 10 minutes, Minamino made it a brace for himself to secure a simple passage into round four.

FOURTH ROUND - PRESTON NORTH END 0-2 LIVERPOOL

© Reuters

Once again forced to travel for the fourth round, Liverpool paid a visit to Deepdale to lock horns with a Preston North End side boasting one of their own in Sepp van den Berg in the starting lineup.

The Reds were in no mood for pleasantries, though, as Minamino followed up his dominant performance against Norwich with the opening goal of the encounter just after the hour mark.

However, the day once again belonged to cult hero Origi, who produced an outrageous piece of skill to scorpion kick home his side's second in the 84th minute and sink a dogged Preston outfit.

QUARTER-FINAL - LIVERPOOL 3-3 LEICESTER CITY (LIVERPOOL WIN 5-4 ON PENALTIES)

© Reuters

After two relatively untroubled EFL Cup nights, Liverpool were shell-shocked when Brendan Rodgers made his return to Anfield with Leicester City and immediately saw his side go 2-0 up through a Jamie Vardy brace.

Strikes from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Maddison followed before the break, and Diogo Jota's 68th-minute effort gave Liverpool a glimmer of hope before the game entered its final knockings.

On the brink of defeat in the fifth minute of injury time, Minamino chested the ball down before unleashing a sublime half-volley into the corner of the net to ensure that the tie would be decided from 12 yards.

After six perfect penalties, Luke Thomas's spot kick was kept out by Kelleher before Minamino went from hero to zero by blasting over, but Kelleher gave Liverpool another chance to advance after saving from Ryan Bertrand, and Jota needed no second invitation.

SEMI-FINAL - LIVERPOOL 2-0 ARSENAL (ON AGGREGATE)

© Reuters

With Arsenal enduring some horror nights at Anfield in recent memory, losing players to injury before and during the game and seeing Granit Xhaka sent for an early bath, the stage was set for a first-leg Liverpool drubbing.

However, Mikel Arteta's side stood firm to ensure the first leg ended 0-0 and leave it all to play for at the Emirates, and hopes were not high on Merseyside in the absence of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.

The Emirates encounter was a different story though, as Liverpool - whose COVID-19 outbreak, which turned out to be mostly false positives, forced the postponement of the tie - took a 1-0 lead into the break thanks to Jota's strike.

The second half followed a similar pattern, with Jota once again getting the better of Aaron Ramsdale before Thomas Partey's late red card rubbed salt into the wounds for Arsenal, who missed the opportunity to set up an all-London final as Liverpool booked their Wembley tickets.