Chelsea seek to halt their domestic dip in a must-win Premier League clash against Liverpool.
Victory could lift Chelsea as high as fifth in the table, whilst Liverpool can go back top with a win if they are displaced earlier on Saturday afternoon by Arsenal.
Team News
Chelsea could welcome Wesley Fofana (concussion) and Andrey Santos (knock) back into contention, after the pair missed the Blues’ 1-0 Champions League win at home to Benfica on Tuesday.
Trevoh Chalobah however is suspended after he was red carded in Chelsea’s 3-1 league loss to Brighton last weekend, with his ban only applied to domestic games, hence his involvement in midweek.
Tosin Adarabioyo (calf), Cole Palmer (groin), Levi Colwill (ACL), Dario Essugo (thigh), Liam Delap (hamstring) and Mykhailo Mudryk (suspension) are still sidelined.
Liverpool could be without Hugo Ekitike after he suffered a hamstring injury in their Champions League defeat away at Galatasaray on Tuesday evening.
Alisson too suffered a hamstring injury in that match but is definitely ruled out for the trip to Stamford Bridge, but Federico Chiesa (knock) could return.
Giovanni Leoni is still sidelined with an ACL injury.
When is Kick-Off?
Chelsea host Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Saturday 4 October at 5:30pm BST, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Chelsea have won one of their last eight league meetings against Liverpool (W1, D5, L2).
- Liverpool have won one of their last five league visits to Chelsea (W1, D3, L1).
- Chelsea are seeking consecutive league wins wins at home against Liverpool for the first time since February and September 2006.
- Enzo Fernandez has scored in Chelsea’s last two league games at home (W1, L1).
- No defender has produced more passes in the opening six league games of the season than Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, who has delivered 494 passes in six top-flight appearances.
Prediction
Having managed just their third clean sheet of the season in their clinical win over Benfica in an evenly-matched contest, Chelsea now need to kick on if want to reignite any realistic hopes of a Premier League title challenge this season and produce another gutsy display.
Discipline however remains their biggest issue after Joao Pedro was sent off against Benfica which marked their third dismissal in four matches, which has to be a concern for Enzo Maresca as they can’t afford an early red card here against top opposition.
Liverpool meanwhile seem to have hit a nag in their last two games as their wasteful end product caught up with them, as they followed up their league defeat at Crystal Palace with a lacklustre attacking display at Galatasaray and to lose Alisson for this game is a huge blow defensively.
Giorgi Mamardashvili therefore has huge shoes to fill on his Premier League debut but given Chelsea’s defensive issues, I do fancy both teams to somehow cancel each other out in what could be a close battle.
Prediction: Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool
Result: Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
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