Team
news, stats and prediction ahead of Liverpool vs Chelsea in the Premier
League on Saturday Night Football; kick-off 5.30pm.
Team news
Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson is hoping to make his first appearance of
the season against Chelsea.
The Scotland left back was an unused substitute in last week's home win
against Burnley after recovering from an ankle injury and Jurgen Klopp must
decide if he starts in place of Kostas Tsimikas.
Fabinho is back from compassionate leave following the death of his father
and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is in contention after the birth of his first
child. James Milner (knock) will miss out.
Chelsea forward Christian Pulisic will be a doubt for the trip to Anfield
after his positive Covid-19 test.
The USA forward missed Sunday's 2-0 win at Arsenal due to self-isolation,
but has not suffered any symptoms after testing positive.
Pulisic might not be back in training with enough time to be ready to
feature, while Kurt Zouma will not be available amid a possible switch to
West Ham and also personal issues that required him to return to France this
week.
Prediction: Jones Knows writes...
A proper game. Two legitimate title contenders going at it - who will lay
down an early marker? That is a stupendously tough question as I've got
these two almost identically matched. You could play this game 10 times at a
neutral venue and there's a strong chance we'd see five wins apiece.
I would slightly favour Liverpool with the Anfield crowd but the odds mirror
that with Jurgen Klopp's men slight favourites at 29/20 with Sky Bet and the
away win a 15/8 chance with Sky Bet. Liverpool have won four of the last
five Premier Leagues meetings between the two but the one Thomas Tuchel was
in charge of, Chelsea won 1-0 last season. But then Tuchel has lost more
games vs Klopp than against any other manager. As you can tell I'm going
around the houses with this one. I have no angle in for the match outcome.
Instead, I'll be playing the cards market.
The fact this is an early-season clash between two title rivals does open
the possibility of a somewhat cagey encounter if the scores are level at 60
minutes. A point is a perfectly acceptable result for both. That could lead
to a low foul count involving two teams that rank low for yellow cards
anyway. In the period since Thomas Tuchel took charge, Chelsea rank 16th for
yellow cards and Liverpool 18th. Also, this fixture produced zero cards last
season. With referees seemingly happy to let the game flow more this
campaign, Anthony Taylor may want to reinforce that point in what is the
highest-profile Premier League game so far. I like the look of the game to
produce two or fewer cards at 6/4 with Sky Bet.
SCORE PREDICTION: 1-1
Opta stats
Liverpool have lost just two of their last 13 Premier League meetings with
Chelsea (W6 D5), though one of those defeats was in the most recent such
game in March.
Only Manchester United (12) have won more Premier League away games against
Liverpool than Chelsea (7), with the Blues winning this exact fixture 1-0
last season.
The home side didn't lose any of the first 22 Premier League meetings
between Liverpool and Chelsea, winning 17 and drawing five. Since then, the
home team has won just a further 12 of their 36 such meetings, with the away
side winning 15 times in that time.
Both Liverpool and Chelsea have started the 2021-22 campaign with two wins,
two clean sheets and five goals scored. Liverpool have started a top-flight
campaign with three wins without conceding twice before (2013-14 and
2018-19), while Chelsea have done so three times (2004-05, 2005-06 and
2010-11).
Liverpool have fired in the most shots so far in the Premier League this
season (46), and have the joint-second highest xG along with Man City (4.3).
Meanwhile, Chelsea have faced the fewest shots in their two games (10), and
have the lowest xG against (0.6).
Liverpool have won their last seven Premier League games, winning each of
the last four without conceding and while scoring at least twice. On just
three occasions has a team won 5+ Premier League games in a row to nil while
scoring 2+ goals each time - Chelsea in August 2010 (6), Chelsea in November
2016 (5) and Manchester City in August 2015 (5).
After losing just one of his first 13 managerial meetings with Chelsea's
Thomas Tuchel in all competitions (W9 D3), Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp has
lost his last two against his compatriot. Only against three managers has
Klopp ever lost 3+ consecutive meetings in his managerial career - Felix
Magath (twice, in 2006 and 2010), Thomas Doll (2006) and Thomas Schaaf
(2007).
Diogo Jota has scored in both of Liverpool's Premier League games so far
this season, and could become the fourth player to score in each of the
Reds' first three games to a Premier League campaign after Robbie Fowler
(1994-95), Daniel Sturridge (2013-14) and Sadio Mané (2017-18).
After netting four goals in his first four Premier League appearances
against Liverpool, Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku has scored in just one of
his last 11 against the Reds.
In all competitions, Liverpool's Sadio Mané has netted seven goals in 17
appearances against Chelsea, with the Senegalese only netting more against
Crystal Palace (12) and Aston Villa (8) during his time in England.
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