These two rivals meet with a lot at stake
Chelsea and Liverpool meet in the Premier League’s 12:45pm lunchtime kick-off at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, the game is live on BT Sport and SillySeason takes a look ahead at what could be the biggest game of the weekend.
Chelsea
The Blues go into this under serious pressure as their catastrophic season goes on after exiting the Capital One Cup, which they won last term, on penalties at the hands of Stoke City.
On top of this, they are currently 16th in Premier League table with just 11 points and are looking more like relegation candidates than a team that will be defending their title.
There are strong rumours that if Jose Mourinho loses this match against bitter rivals Liverpool, he will indeed be getting the sack; but that remains to be seen. The flip side of that is if he wins this game it could be the catalyst to turn the champions’ form around.
Mourinho could be boosted by Diego Costa’s return, the centre forward is looking likely for the game despite being hospitalised after suffering a rib injury at Stoke.
Liverpool
Liverpool travel to West London fresh off the back of Jurgen Klopp’s first win since taking charge, after they defeated Bournemouth 1-0 at Anfield on Wednesday night to progress into the Capital One Cup quarter-finals.
They will be looking to use that result as springboard going into the Chelsea away game, as the players want to impress Klopp for a starting place and they also want to be part of the German’s first win in the Premier League.
His first three games in England’s top flight have all ended in draws, with his only previous away fixture at Tottenham Hotspur (his first in charge) ending in a 0-0 draw.
Liverpool have a mixed league record at Stamford Bridge in their last five league trips to the capital, winning two, drawing two and losing one.
In terms of injury news, Klopp has confirmed that Christian Benteke could in contention to challenge Divock Origi for his starting place in the lone striker role.
However, Daniel Sturridge is still not fit enough to play and remains sidelined alongside long-term absentees Danny Ings and Joe Gomez.
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