Team
news, stats and prediction ahead of Liverpool vs Chelsea in the Premier
League on Wednesday (kick-off 8.15pm).
Team news
Liverpool midfielder James Milner is expected to be fit to return to the
squad for the final home match of the season against Chelsea.
The 34-year-old missed the last two games - a draw with Burnley and defeat
to Arsenal - with a minor muscle problem.
After a week's rest and with a three-year unbeaten home league record to
preserve, manager Jurgen Klopp is likely to field his strongest available
line-up, with only Joel Matip (foot) and Jordan Henderson (knee) ruled out.
N'Golo Kante will miss Chelsea's trip to Anfield.
The France midfielder remains sidelined with a hamstring problem and will
not be available to face the Reds.
Kante suffered his latest hamstring issue in the 3-0 win over Watford on
July 4 and the Anfield trip will be the fifth match he has missed.
Charlie's prediction
It is a cracker. The relegation battle is intense, but so is the top-four
race. Question marks are beside all three of them, but how do you pick a
winner out of Chelsea, Leicester and Manchester United?
Liverpool will be agitated with themselves. Trophy presentations can go one
way or the other. They are the champions and can go and beat teams by three
or four goals to nil, otherwise it can be flat.
A 10-per-cent drop is a lot when you are Liverpool, and setting the
standards they have set, and they will want to be seen as proper Premier
League champions on this occasion. Jurgen Klopp will be angry with them at
the moment and I think he will play his strongest team and get a reaction
from his players.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: 2-0 (10/1 with Sky Bet)
Opta stats
Liverpool have won their last two Premier League games against Chelsea, as
many as they had in their previous 13 against the Blues (D7 L4).
Chelsea have only lost one of their last nine away games in all competitions
against Liverpool (W3 D5), though it was in this exact fixture in the
Premier League last season (0-2).
Between 1992-93 and 2011-12, 63% of the Premier League meetings between
Liverpool and Chelsea were won by the home side (25/40). Since then, the
home side has been victorious in just three of the 15 subsequent meetings
(20%).
Liverpool are unbeaten in 58 Premier League home games, winning 17 of their
18 at Anfield so far this season. If they avoid defeat here, it will be the
ninth time they've remained unbeaten at home across an entire top-flight
campaign, three more than any other side.
Chelsea have won 18 of their 44 Premier League games against sides starting
the day top of the table, more than any other side in the competition.
Meanwhile, only Man Utd (44% - 15/34) have a higher win rate in such games
than the Blues (41%).
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