Liverpool vs. Chelsea: Key Issues and Decisions That Will Shape EPL Game
The London club's 1-1 draw with Maribor in Slovenia on Wednesday was derided by their manager, and they will know that they need to be better at Anfield.
Per WhoScored.com, Jose Mourinho has most of his players available, with only Loic Remy and John Obi Mikel ruled out through injury. Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers’ Reds are suffering a crisis of confidence and have five players unavailable.
Click through for five other issues that will decide this grudge match.
Rearguard
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Liverpool were incensed with Chelsea’s tactics in this fixture last season, with Rodgers accusing his former mentor of parking two buses in the 2-0 victory.
Nemanja Matic alluded to this in recent comments to the press, per Dominic Fifield at The Guardian:
"Many teams this season have tried to park the bus in front of the goal against us, but we win. It’s not easy. If you defend, you have to know how to defend. In that game (in April) we showed we have quality. Nobody’s happy when you lose a game, and they weren’t happy after that match.
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Chelsea’s defence has leaked more goals than Mourinho would like this season, with 10 conceded already. However, with 13 goals conceded, Liverpool have been even shakier at the back.
Rodgers will need his defenders to try to turn this around on Saturday.
Rest
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Mourinho revealed in his interview with Gary Neville in The Telegraph that he used Liverpool’s refusal to move last season’s fixture as extra motivation to record the win that derailed the Reds’ title challenge.
That game was played at 4 p.m on Sunday when Chelsea were to play Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semifinal on the following Wednesday.
The Blues are in a similar position this time around, having only returned from Slovenia in the early hours of Thursday morning, while Liverpool have had an extra 24 hours to recover from their 1-0 defeat in Madrid.
Branislav Ivanovic’s comments to the official Chelsea website give some indication of how Chelsea will react to this:
"It’s a fact we have one day less to recover but we have to take that out of our minds, it can’t be an excuse for us. We must focus on the next game. There is nothing we can do about it, our schedule in the last few years has always been like that and we often have one day less than our opponents to recover. We work hard every day and, for sure, we will be ready for the game.
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Revenge
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The 2-0 defeat in this fixture in April effectively ended Liverpool’s best chance of winning their first league title for over 24 years.
That it came at the hands of Mourinho’s men only compounded the misery for the supporters, and Steven Gerrard will be doing his best to motivate the squad to seek revenge.
Rivalry
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Matches between Liverpool and Chelsea—in particular a Chelsea side managed by Mourinho—have become one of the most anticipated fixtures over the last decade.
While most rivalries are geographical in nature and stretch back through the decades, the mutual loathing between these two clubs is a fairly recent phenomenon, brought about by the 38 times the clubs have faced each other since 2003.
While Mourinho may have touched a nerve when he criticised the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge last week, he will undoubtedly be able to hear a healthy chorus of “Have you ever seen Gerrard win the league?” at Anfield on Saturday.
Remember, Remember
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If there is ever a good time to play this Chelsea side, now is surely it for Liverpool.
November is the month that the Blues traditionally come unstuck, and the 1-1 draw with Maribor in midweek suggests that things might not have changed much in that department.
However, Chelsea are looking to set a new club record of 17 games unbeaten at the start of the season, per the official Chelsea website.
Mourinho was in charge when the current record was set in 2005-06, and judging both sides on performances alone, it is hard to see how Rodgers’ Reds will stop the Blues from completing their best start to a top-flight season.
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