Liverpool hosts League-Leading Chelsea in Premier League action
By Ian Palmer
The most anticipated English Premier League game this weekend will kickoff at Anfield Stadium where Liverpool will host league-leading Chelsea this Saturday, November 8th. Chelsea is the only unbeaten club in the Premier League, but they’re coming off of a disappointing 1-1 draw in Slovenia against Maribor in the European Champions League on Wednesday. Liverpool also head a poor outing in the Champions League as they were beaten 1-0 in Spain by Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Chelsea’s last league contest was a 2-1 win over last-place Queens Park Rangers last week while Liverpool dropped a 1-0 decision away to Newcastle United. Chelsea has a four-point lead over second-place Southampton as they have a record of eight wins and two draws for 26 points. Seventh-place Liverpool has 14 points on four wins, four losses and two draws. Chelsea has dropped four points this season and they came against the Manchester clubs, United and City. They seem to struggle against the league’s top teams and Liverpool are arguably in that category.
Premier League Soccer Betting Line – Liverpool vs Chelsea:
- Full Time Result: Liverpoo 13/5, Draw 12/5, Chelsea 6/5
- Goals Over/Under: 2.5 goals – Over 9/10, Under 9/10
The main reason Chelsea has problems with the better teams is because manager Jose Mourinho doesn’t attempt to beat the good teams. He’s more concerned about not losing to them. In soccer terms he parks the bus and this usually results in boring games for the fans. Liverpool finished as Premier League runners-up last season to champions Manchester City. They also finished just ahead of third-place Chelsea. However, a loss here will leave them 15 points behind Chelsea after just 11 league games.
Mourinho will be hoping that Spanish international striker Diego Costa will be healthy enough to play since he leads the team with nine league goals. However, he’s been in and out of the squad lately due to a hamstring problem. Spanish international midfielder and club captain Cesc Fabregas is also a key figure for the Blues and is leading the league with nine assists so far this season. Chelsea is unbeaten on the road so far with three wins and a pair of draws.
There are many fans that aren’t happy with Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers and there are rumours that they will soon start protesting against him at the club’s games. Liverpool’s defense is questionable as they’ve managed just one clean sheet in their past 12 contests and they haven’t been able to do much offensively this campaign either. The Reds have been shut out by Hull City and Newcastle in their past two league encounters and they desperately miss their top scorer, English international striker Daniel Sturridge.
Italian international striker Mario Balotelli was signed for 16 million pounds in the transfer window to help out, but has been a bust so far. He’s gone eight straight league games without a goal and has scored just twice in 13 games with Liverpool this season. Chelsea has 26 goals in their 10 league games with half of them coming on the road and have conceded 10 while Liverpool has scored 13 and allowed 13.
These two sides have played each other 142 times in league clashes with Liverpool winning 64 times and Chelsea taking 48 games. The other 30 were draws. Chelsea won both league games against the Reds last year and haven’t lost to Liverpool in the past two seasons. Liverpool has won just twice at home in 2014/15. It looks like Mamadou Sakho, Suso, Jose Enrique, Suso and Jon Flanagan will likely miss the game for Liverpool due to injuries.