With Matchday 21 of the Premier League is set to be underway in the new year, 3rd place Liverpool travel Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea who sit in 2nd place in the league table on Sunday.
Both the teams come into the clash after disappointing results and lost more ground on Manchester City who sit 1st in the league table. Liverpool suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat at the hands of Leicester City.
While Chelsea were on track to take home the three points. Until a 91st minute late equalizer from Danny Welback. With the draw, Chelsea are now eight points off league leaders Manchester City going into the new year.
Liverpool on the other hand are nine points off league leaders in Manchester City. But they do have one game in hand. Both the clubs will be hoping to come out of the clash with all three points to keep the title charge going. While they will be also hoping for City to drop points against Arsenal to narrow the gap between the three clubs.
Key facts
- Chelsea are unbeaten in their last two games against Liverpool. Though both of these games were at Anfield.
- While Liverpool have won the last two Premier League away matches against Chelsea.
- The reds are not won a single game in London this term. They have drawn two and lost one.
- The away side have just a 12.5% win rate in the 32 Premier League clashes between Chelsea and Liverpool.
- The reds are winless in the last six matches against reigning European champions.
- The European champions have won just one of their last four Premier League games.
- Liverpool are without a clean sheet in their last three league games.
Team news
Defensive duo Reece James and Andreas Christensen were both taken off injured in the 1-1 draw against Brighton and are major doubts. Ben Chilwell is confirmed to be undergoing surgery for his ACL problem and is likely to miss the remaining season.
Timo Werner missed the Brighton after testing positive for Covid-19 and remains a minor doubt for the clash. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is also a minor doubt with his ankle problem. We may see Kai Havertz start, especially after Romelu Lukaku’s comments regarding his Chelsea future in the recent interview.
Nat Phillips, Adrian, Divock Origi and Harvey Elliott are all ruled out for Liverpool. While Andy Robertson is still serving his three-game ban after the red card against Spurs and will miss the Chelsea clash. Thiago is likely to return to the starting line-up in place of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Predicted lineup
Chelsea predicted lineup:
Mendy; Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Rudiger; Hudson-Odoi, Jorginho, Kante, Alonso; Mount, Havertz; Lukaku
Liverpool predicted lineup:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago; Salah, Jota, Mane
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