Less than a month before the two teams rekindle their animosity in the EFL Cup final at Wembley, Premier League leaders Liverpool square off against Chelsea at Anfield on Wednesday night.
Preview: Liverpool vs. Chelsea: teams, news, and predictions
In August of last year, Mauricio Pochettino hosted Jurgen Klopp’s club at Stamford Bridge for his first home game as the Blues’ manager. The match ended in an intriguing 1-1 tie between the two teams.
Liverpool crushed Norwich City 5-2 at home in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday to celebrate their first game following the shocking announcement of Jurgen Klopp’s resignation at the conclusion of the season.
Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch, Darwin Nunez, Curtis Jones, and Diogo Jota all scored as the merciless Reds took advantage of the Canaries’ careless play from behind the scenes. This helped the eight-time FA Cup winners secure a favourable fifth-round home match against Watford or Southampton at the end of February.
With only one loss in their previous 17 games during the past two and a half months, Klopp’s team has now gone 10 games without a loss in all competitions. However, their resilience will be put to the test when they play Chelsea and Arsenal at home in back-to-back league games in the span of five days.
Liverpool leads the standings by five points at the moment, but Manchester City, the defending champions, who are tied for second place with both Arsenal and Aston Villa, have a game in hand over the Reds.
Liverpool has every reason to be hopeful going into their match on Wednesday, as they have gone 22 games without losing in the league at Anfield. However, since there hasn’t been anything between the Reds and Chelsea in recent years, success is not certain.
In fact, the last seven encounters between the two sides have all been in draws, including four scoreless ties in ninety minutes. This is the longest run of straight draws between two elite teams in English football history.
Chelsea’s run in the FA Cup fourth round ended in a goalless home draw with Aston Villa last Friday, three days after they had secured their place in the EFL Cup final with a resounding 6-1 semi-final second-leg victory over Middlesbrough. Both teams will have to endure an unwanted replay next week.
Chelsea’s lack of a cutting edge in the closing third and numerous missed opportunities in front of goal have been a recurring theme this season. However, custodian Dorde Petrovic’s outstanding play prevented Aston Villa from winning when the Blues were running out of gas in the last 20 minutes.
Chelsea should be commended for their impressive 10-game winning streak at Stamford Bridge, but their recent road performance leaves much to be desired. Coming into Liverpool, they have lost five of their last six road games across all competitions, conceding at least twice in five of those contests.
In contrast, the West Londoners have won a Premier League record 18 games against teams that start the day atop the table, which is encouraging ahead of Wednesday’s matchup. The West Londoners have only lost two of their last 11 trips to Anfield, with those losses occurring in succession in April 2019 (2-0) and July 2020 (5-3).
Chelsea has risen to ninth in the standings after three straight victories in the top flight. They have cause for optimism going into midweek as they look to get the three points they need to pass Manchester United and possibly Brighton & Hove Albion and move up into the European spots.
Form for the Liverpool Premier League: WDDWWW
Liverpool lineup (all events): WWWWDW
Premier League form for Chelsea: LWLWWW
Chelsea’s record in every competition is WWLWWD.
Wataru Endo is still away with Japan at the Asian Cup, so Liverpool will have to do without Mohamed Salah (muscle), Joel Matip (knee), Kostas Tsimikas (collarbone), Thiago Alcantara (hip), and Stefan Bajcetic (calf).
Due to a minor injury, Alexis Mac Allister was unable to play in the victory over Norwich, but Klopp is optimistic that the midfielder will be ready to play against Chelsea. In addition, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson, and Dominik Szoboszlai all made substitute appearances last time out, indicating that they are all expected to play on Wednesday.
After coming on as a substitute against Norwich, Luis Diaz will be vying for a starting spot on the left wing. Cody Gakpo may have to make way as Klopp is anticipated to remain with the highly effective attacking combo of Nunez and Jota.
Regarding Chelsea, Nicolas Jackson is in Senegal for the Africa Cup of Nations, thus Reece James, Lesley Ugochukwu (both hamstring), Wesley Fofana (ACL), Robert Sanchez (knee), Marc Cucurella (ankle), Romeo Lavia, and Trevoh Chalobah (thigh) are still out.
Malo Gusto (knock) and Christopher Nkunku (hip) have both participated in training this week but are still uncertain. Levi Colwill, who was forced to withdraw from the starting lineup against Aston Villa due to an undisclosed ailment sustained during the pre-game warm-up, will also be evaluated before to kickoff.
Left-back After returning from a hamstring injury, Ben Chilwell may be able to start for the first time in a Premier League match since September of last year. Pochettino will also need to choose between starting Armando Broja up front or Cole Palmer as a false nine.
Alisson; Jones, Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Nunez, Diaz; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; might be Liverpool’s starting lineup.
Possible starting lineup for Chelsea: Caicedo, Fernandez; Palmer, Gallagher, Sterling; Broja; Petrovic; Disasi, Silva, Badiashile, Chilwell
We declare: Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
Another tight match between these two sides may be in store on Wednesday, but Liverpool will probably have the advantage because to their stellar home record at Anfield. This is especially true given their seven-game drawing run.
If Chelsea is to win at Anfield, they cannot afford another frustrating spell without the goal. However, even if Chelsea were to break through Liverpool’s defence, we think Klopp’s rampaging Reds would find a way to outscore their West London rivals and win the match.
Leave a Reply