Home » Teams » Chelsea » Chelsea vs Liverpool Preview : New Age Rivals Clash With 3 points as well as Pride at Stake

Chelsea vs Liverpool Preview : New Age Rivals Clash With 3 points as well as Pride at Stake

Who :   vs  

What : EPL, Matchday XI

Where : Stamford Bridge, London

When : Sunday, November 11, 16:00 GMT

Referee : Howard Webb

 

These two teams have met no less than 30 times since the start of the 2004/05 season. Many of those clashes have been crucial encounters, including Cup finals and Champions league games. These games triggered intense rivalries between both the clubs both on and off the field in the last 8 years. 

Chelsea have not beaten Liverpool in Stamford Bridge since 3 years but with the current form of both the clubs, Chelsea will be favorites to win the tie but games are not won on paper!

 

Chelsea Team News : 

The big talking point will be the return of their captain : John Terry. After serving a 4 match ban for English competitions, Terry was expected to play in the midweek Champions League game against Shaktar but was rested in order to be 100% fit for this crunch game. In his absence, Chelsea have let in an embarrassing 12 goals in just 5 games.

Club vice captain Frank Lampard remains the only doubt for the Blues while Ashley Cole will have a late fitness test but should start.

 

 Possible Line- Up

Cech

Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Cole;

Mikel, Ramires; 

Oscar, Mata, Hazard;

Torres.

 

Chelsea left the game very,very late in the midweek when they scored the winner in the 94th minute thanks to a header from Victor Moses. He is turning out to be a “super sub” for the Blues and will hope to score another late goal this Sunday.

The main talking point before the match would probably revolve around Fernando Torres facing his former club but the men to watch for the Blues undoubtedly are MAZACAR. The dangerous trio of Mata-Hazard-Oscar, in short MAZACAR will be the key men yet again as their pace and cheeky passes have troubled the opponent defenders so far this season. 

 

Liverpool Team News : 

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers made it clear where his priorities laid this week by leaving several first-team players, including skipper Steven Gerrard and top scorer Luis Suarez out of the squad against Anzhi Makhachkala. The Reds eventually lost that game but a win against the Blues will give them the much needed confidence they’ve been lacking the whole season.

There is no new injury news as far as Liverpool are concerned. Lucas Leiva (thigh) is still closing in on a return to first-team action while Glen Johnson (muscle), Fabio Borini (foot) and Martin Kelly (knee) remain long-term absentees.

 

Possible Line- Up

 Reina;

Wisdom, Agger, Skrtel, Enrique;

 Gerrard, Allen, Shelvy;

Sterling, Suarez, Suso

 

Suarez is the Key Man for Liverpool without a doubt. If we were to discard all the goals scored by Suarez this season so far, Liverpool would be sitting in the 20th place in the league with just 1 point. 

Club captain Steven Gerrard would have hoped that his close friend and fellow countryman Frank Lampard would have been fit for this game as they’ve been compared with respect to all possible aspects as to who’s the best English midfielder. With Lampard’s absence, Gerrard looks favorite to take control of the midfield and he needs to bring in his A-game if Liverpool are to take any points away from this game.

 

 

Prediction : Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool

No matter how bad Liverpool are playing at the moment, they are expected to perform well in the big games. It will be a hard fought and a close game and Chelsea should win the game, just. 

Comments are closed.