Date: Sunday 20th
October 2024
Venue: Anfield
Kick-off: 16:30 BST
After an international break that ended with our former
manager, Thomas Tuchel appointed as the England manager, our first game back
sees us travel to Anfield to face Liverpool.
Liverpool start the day top of the table after Arsenal’s defeat (snigger) to Bournemouth yesterday, whilst we slipped to 6th place after yesterday’s games, with Villa and Brighton moving above us. Liverpool’s last game was a 1-0 win over Palace, for their sixth win from seven league games so far, whilst we battled out a 1-1 draw against Forest.
We face Liverpool with both Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana missing through suspension and whilst Alisson won’t be in goal for the home side, they have a decent fallback position with Kelleher. Alongside that, they have been extremely tight in defence this season, conceding just 2 goals, so whilst our 16 goals scored is only inferior to Manchester City’s 17 so far, they won’t be easy to come by at Anfield.
That, and the fact we’re on a nine-game winless run versus
Liverpool, suggests it’s going to be a difficult afternoon.
.
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into
today’s game, Liverpool manager Arne Slot, says “If you look at the league
table, it is. I think Manchester United is a very good team, a top club in
England that has spent a lot of money to even make the team better again. Same
for Chelsea in this season. Chelsea does really well. If you look at the league
table then they are the ones that might be our toughest opponent. But it’s not
always about the league table. Sometimes it’s about the form of the day, it’s
about their game plan. We had some difficulty with Wolves as well, who are
bottom of the league, I think. But it is a challenge, that’s for sure.
If you
want to achieve something in this season, you need to be defensively really
stable. We’ve been that until now. Again, [the] fixture list we have to take
into account as well. And now we face even better players because Chelsea, like
Man United, has a lot, a lot, a lot of great individuals who we have to try to
manage, to control. That’s not what one player does, that’s what we have to do
as a team. But we must not forget to create our own chances as well, because if
you want to win you need to score as well. Fortunately, and the good thing for
us is that we have players that can score goals. [I’m] looking forward to a
very interesting game on Sunday.”
Enzo
Maresca, meanwhile, says “I think it is a special game for all the clubs.
Liverpool is a nice environment, fantastic, and we are excited to play this
kind of game. But at the same time, all of the games we have played until now,
not one of them has been easy. All the
Premier League games are difficult, they are not easy. We are going to try our
best, prepare the game in the best way we can and try to get points.
They [Liverpool]
are doing fantastic. Very good players, very good manager, very good club – I
think they are doing a fantastic job. It’s already many years that Liverpool
are there. They are continuing to do that and that is something very, very
important for them. We are going to approach the game not thinking where we
are, we are going to approach trying to prepare the game in the best way. But
it’s not this game that is going to define where we are. If we win, then we
solve the problem, if we lose, then it’s just a process, just a game. We will
try our best to prepare for the game.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Liverpool, Harvey Elliott (foot)
remains out, with Alisson for company. Alexis Mac Allister, Waturu Endo and
Kostas Tsimikas are given as doubts but Caoimhin Kelleher returns after
recovering from an illness.
For Chelsea, Wesley Fofana and Marc
Cucurella are suspended but there are no injury concerns. Reece James
(hamstring) is available again.
TEAMS
LIVERPOOL (Possible line-up): Kelleher;
Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Jones, Gravenberch; Salah,
Szoboszlai, Gakpo; Jota
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Sanchez;
Gusto, Disasi, Colwill, Veiga; Caicedo, Fernandez; Madueke, Palmer, Sancho;
Jackson
LAST SEASON
Liverpool 4-1 Chelsea
(31st January 2024)
CURRENT FORM (PL)
LIVERPOOL: WWLWWW
CHELSEA: WDWWWD
OTHER STUFF
- Chelsea
are without a win in nine games against Liverpool in all competitions.
- Liverpool
have lost just two of the past 19 meetings.
- Chelsea
have won just one of their last nine Premier League away games against
Liverpool.
- All
six of Liverpool’s league wins this season have been against teams that begin
this weekend in the bottom half of the table.
- Chelsea
have won their first 3 away games this season.
- Liverpool
have kept five clean sheets in their opening seven games.
- Chelsea
have lost two of their last 22 league games.
PREDICTION
Sportsmole: Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea
