Date: Wednesday 22nd
July 2020
Venue: Anfield
Kick-off: 20:15 BST
After the pleasant surprise of the FA Cup semi-final and a win against United at the weekend, thanks, in part, to the benevolence of De Gea, tonight’s game sees us at Anfield to take on Liverpool. Not only take them on, but give them a guard of honour and then try to soak up the pressure they’ll undoubtedly put us under. They come into tonight’s game off the back of a rare defeat and without a win in their last couple of games, so there is no way they’ll want to risk losing their last home game of a title winning campaign. With things so tight at the top, we couldn’t pick a worse time to be playing them.
We come into tonight’s
game off the back of a convincing win against United but our form in the league
has been less convincing and we don’t have a good record in this fixture. Klopp
will pick the strongest XI he’s got for the penultimate game of the season and we’ll
be up against the sort of performance they put in to win the title.
Nothing about this
game fills me with confidence.
MANAGER’S
VIEWS
Going into today’s game, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, says “I expect a good game
from us and unfortunately a good game from Chelsea as well, and in the end we
will see what happens exactly. It’s not
the easiest game I ever prepared with a team, to be honest, because there are
two things tomorrow night. Usually I don’t have to think about something else
apart from the football game, which helps me a lot because I can really be
focused. I will try that and I know the boys will try that as well. In the end,
we only can win when we are at 100 per cent and we will see if that’s possible
tomorrow night.
We have to go
for something as well, it’s not that we only are there and wait until the party
starts. We have to save a record, a home record, stuff like this [so] for us as
well there are some targets. Again, we have to see, how we do always, how
we deal with it. I’m very positive that these boys will put a proper
performance out there on the pitch but if it’s enough, we have to show tomorrow
night.”
Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard, meanwhile
says “Liverpool and Manchester City have shown an incredible consistency that
only comes through hard work and with fantastic players and fantastic coaching. We’re at a different point in the curve and we have to respect
that and work towards it. The points don’t lie over the last few seasons but we
have to have some strong targets and we want to close that gap.
I am happy to give
them (Liverpool) a guard of honour. As
for the trophy lift, we will see because it might depend on other factors after
the game. We go there with huge respect, we have to respect a team that won the
league well.”
SQUAD
NEWS
For Liverpool, Joel Matip
(foot) and Jordan Henderson (knee) are out but James Milner is expected
to return.
For Chelsea, N’Golo Kante (hamstring) and Billy Gilmour (knee) remain
out and Christian Pulisic will need to be assessed.
TEAMS
LIVERPOOL
(Possible line-up): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson;
Keita, Fabinho, Wijnaldum; Salah, Firmino, Mane
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Kepa; Azpilicueta,
Zouma, Rudiger; James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso; Willian, Giroud, Mount
LAST
SEASON
Liverpool
2-0 Chelsea (14th April 2019)
CURRENT
FORM (ALL)
LIVERPOOL:
WLWWDL
CHELSEA:
WLWWLW
OTHER
STUFF
- Chelsea have beaten Liverpool just once in the last 10 attempts (May 2018)
- Liverpool need just one more win for a club record of 31 in a league season.
- A Liverpool win would equal the best Premier League home record for a season of 18 wins and a draw. It was previously set by Chelsea (2005-06), Manchester United (2010-11) and Manchester City (2011-12).
- Liverpool have lost three of their past nine Premier League fixtures.
- Chelsea could lose 12 Premier League matches for only the second time since 2003
- Chelsea have conceded 49 goals in the Premier League, the most of any team in the top half of the table
- Chelsea have kept only one clean sheet in 18 Premier League away matches this season
- Mo Salah is unbeaten in all 56 Premier League appearances at Anfield.
PREDICTION
BBC Sport: Liverpool 2-0 Chelsea
Sky Sports: Liverpool 2-0 Chelsea
Sportsmole: Liverpool 2-2 Chelsea
