This Tuesday sees arguably the biggest match of the season to date in the Premier League, as Liverpool Welcome Chelsea to Stamford Bridge. For the visitors, a point would be more than enough to keep them as favourites to win the title this season but for Liverpool, they must win this match to remain in the title race.
2017 has been a terrible for Liverpool, who have won only one of their eight matches in all competitions. Jurgen Klopp’s team were dumped out of the FA Cup by Wolverhampton Wanderers on the weekend, which was their third defeat in a row at Anfield. Many Liverpool fans will point to the weakened starting XI fielded by Klopp but the fact the German introduced the trio of Philippe Coutinho, Emre Can and Daniel Sturridge in the second half, showed he wanted to win the game. Regardless of the stature of the competition, another home defeat was the last thing this Liverpool team needed, especially before a crucial game against the top team in the Premier League.
Chelsea had no such problem in their FA Cup fourth round game, comfortably defeating Brentford 4-0 at home. Antonio Conte also fielded a team missing several regular starters but this did not stop Chelsea from cruising through the match and the goal for Michy Batshuayi will be a good confidence boost for the Belgian striker, although he is sure to be on the bench at Anfield.
Talking about Anfield and the stadium was turning into a place where Liverpool fans could guarantee a good performance and win this season but that’s changed dramatically in the last few weeks. They have lost three and drawn one of their last four home games, including a 3-2 defeat to Swansea in the Premier League and 1-0 defeat to Southampton, which saw them eliminated from the League Cup at the semi-final stage. It’s now been just two clean sheets from the last seven home matches in all competitions for Liverpool.
Having lost at Tottenham 2-0 in the league, Chelsea have responded very well by winning their last four games. Straight forward wins in the league against Leicester have been backed up with FA Cup victories over Peterborough and Brentford. Chelsea have conceded only one goal during those four games and away from home, they have won seven of the last eight Premier League games. Therefore, Chelsea should be arriving at Anfield full of confidence, knowing they can take a huge step towards the title by winning the match and all but ending Liverpool’s quest for silverware this season.
Given the current form of the two teams and the way Liverpool’s fans were reacting after the loss to Wolves, there appears to be only one possible winner from this game and that’s Chelsea. The fact it is a huge game may bring more out of the Liverpool players than we have seen in recent weeks but it’s impossible to turn on a great performance like a switch, having played so poorly in recent games. Chelsea will not run away with it but should leave with maximum points, perhaps by a one goal margin.