Liverpool vs Chelsea - Saturday 25th November 2017 at 5.30pm at Anfield vs After a solid few weeks in which we’ve put together our best run in terms of results of the season, comes a match against a side who, like us, have been inconsistent this season but have looked better over their past few matches.ChelseaChelsea have a had a mixed start, defeats and poor performances against the likes of Man City and Roma, compounded with losses against sides like Burnley and Palace has meant their season hasn’t been as successful so far as they might have hoped, especially given that Conte won the league in his first season in charge. That said, their last couple of games against Man Utd and West Brom have seen an upturn in results. Unsurprisingly, these victories have coincided with their best players in Kante and Hazard returning after spells out. Their last match was a 4-0 thumping at West Brom although how much of that was down to Pulis' side's incompetence I'm not sure, I was too busy watching the Mohamed Salah show against Southampton.Their transfer business in the summer has also been a bit of mixed bag, Morata's been a success and like Kante and Hazard, is also turning into one of their most important players. He’s come in and replaced Costa, done very well, scored goals and not brought any of the drama that Costa brings. Their other summer signings in Rudiger and Zappacosta haven’t fared so well. Ruidger hasn’t really made them that much stronger, although rumours are he’s now agreed to see self help guru Brad Goodman for some help with the mental side of things. And Zappacosta’s only recently been starting for them so. Still, it's early days for new signings - they can't all be Salahs. Ruidger and Zappacosta notwithstanding, they’re still a side with some outstanding players and we’ll have to play well to win, I don’t think anyone’s under any illusions about that.LiverpoolAs for us, well, we’ve been criticised a lot this season, some of it deserved, some not in my opinion but either way, it’s nice to write about us when we’re playing well and winning matches. Coutinho, Mane, Salah, Firmino and Sturridge are all now available, our midfield’s just gotten stronger with Lallana coming back, we’ve promoted two young players in Gomez and Alexander-Arnold who don’t look out of place in the first team and Moreno? He’s been excellent this season and is rightly first choice left back, I’m not sure many foresaw that in the summer and it’s credit to him that he’s done so. And we've won our past four matches but three goals. So yeah, things have been much better recently and these past few games have been relatively comfortable* so more of that on Saturday would be nice. Past meetings2012/2013 - 2-22013/2014 - 0-22014/2015 - 1-22015/2016 - 1-12016/2017 - 1-1Since the Rafa days, this fixture hasn’t been as memorable (2013/2014 aside, unfortunately for us, for all the wrong reasons) and there hasn’t been anything hugely impressive for us at Anfield against these in a while. I would argue that the game in December 2010 under Hodgson (don’t laugh) is one of the best since 2010, probably due to the unexpectedness of the performance and result. Though those two charlatans had recently departed, we were still a mess on the pitch and went into the match not expecting much. But Torres, on the cusp of his transformation from goalscoring superstar to anything but produced a dazzling display, first collecting Kuyt’s pass to score early on and then receiving the ball on the left hand side of the box, shifting it onto his right and curling a superb strike into the far corner, leaving Cech flat footed. One of the best non epic swindle moments in an awful year.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3icndhuQ4kY" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3icndhuQ4kY</a>Last season’s match finished 1-1, Hazard’s dive leading to Luiz’s fine free kick but Wijnaldum’s header in the second half earned a point and arguably, we could have won it in the end too. But by the end of the season, we just about got fourth while Chelsea won the league. Right now though, it’s a lot closer in terms of league positions of the sides and performances. Our home record’s been solid and I’m sure Conte won’t have his side come flying out of the traps at Anfield. As such, I think how the match goes depends on us to a huge extent. We might have to face another team that’s happy to defend and give us the ball, albeit one which is dangerous going the other way, something we didn't really experience against Huddersfield and Southampton. That said, here's to another 3-0 victory!*Written after the Southampton game but before Sevilla, hopefully we’ll be high from qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Sliiiiight worry regarding our lack of pace in the middle.Hopefully our tactics and positioning wins out.
We may sign Salah, but I'll show my arse in the middle of town if we sign one of VVD or Keita. Not gonna happen.
I'm going to say it Moreno is working so hard.
Excellent save from Mignolet, game is still 0-=, Chelsea playing the waiting game. It's not like no other team has tried that before, the unimmaginative twats
Cannot believe how quiet the crowd is in a game of this stature.
Its certainly demoralising when all you can hear are Chelsea fans. We haven't managed to create enough, it has to be said.
True, but by the same token the crowd should be singing regardless.
