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Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet will make his first appearance of the season in his side's Carabao Cup third-round tie against Chelsea on Wednesday.

Summer signing Alisson will be rested at Anfield, with Mignolet to play his first Liverpool game since January.

Chelsea are expected to rotate their line-up, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Antonio Rudiger and Pedro are doubts.

Top scorer Eden Hazard will be part of the squad despite the clubs meeting again in the league on Saturday.

Chelsea's assistant manager Gianfranco Zola suggested defender Gary Cahill could make his first start of the season while teenagers Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ethan Ampadu are also in contention.

• 'Understandable' out of favour Cahill is upset - Zola

Liverpool and Chelsea are both unbeaten this season and are currently first and third in the Premier League respectively.

Reds manager Jurgen Klopp said he will play a "really strong side" for the cup fixture but the inclusion of Mignolet was the only change he confirmed at his pre-match news conference.

"I will not name a number of changes," Klopp said.

"It will not be the maximum and it will not be the minimum.

"One I have already confirmed, so it cannot be nil, and it will for sure not be 11."

Zola said the game is an "opportunity to see players who didn't have many games so far" but that they would "take it seriously".

"The game on Saturday is going to be huge, the type of game means a lot," the Italian said.

"We are greedy, we want to win both of them if we can."

Head-to-head

• Liverpool have won only two of their past 14 games against Chelsea in all competitions (D7 L5), with both victories coming at Stamford Bridge.
• This is the 57th meeting between Liverpool and Chelsea since the turn of the millennium, making it the most played fixture in English football in that time.
• This is the eighth League Cup meeting between Liverpool and Chelsea and the first at the third-round stage since November 2000, when the Reds won 2-1 at Anfield with goals from Danny Murphy and Robbie Fowler.

Liverpool

• Liverpool have lost their last three League Cup matches without scoring a single goal, their worst ever run in the competition - the Reds haven't been eliminated at the third-round stage in back to back seasons since doing so in 1989-90 and 1990-91.

Chelsea

• Chelsea have progressed from each of their past seven League Cup third-round ties since losing 4-3 to Newcastle United in 2010-11.
• None of the last eight Chelsea managers to manage in the League Cup have lost their first match in the competition (W7 D1), with Claudio Ranieri the last Blues boss to lose his maiden game - against Liverpool in November 2000.