Liverpool v Chelsea Predictions – Low Scoring Affair And Potential Draw

Liverpool host Chelsea in the English Premier League at Anfield on Saturday evening. Both sides have perfect records after two matches with no goals conceded and five goals scored. Jurgen Klopp’s team have had a very good run of results against Chelsea in recent seasons but were beaten 1-0 at Anfield by Thomas Tuchel’s Blues last term.

Liverpool Form

Liverpool are back to their imperious best. They ended last season dropping just four points of the final 30 available in the league to finish third. Their run-in included fine wins against Arsenal and Man Utd. After losing six matches at Anfield at one stage last season, they have now picked up four wins and a draw in their last five home matches.

The Reds have started this season with a 3-0 win at Carrow Road against Norwich before a 2-0 home win against Burnley with Diego Jota and Sadio Mane scoring the goals.

Liverpool Team News

James Milner has a knock and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been missing due to personal reasons. Fabinho missed the Burnley match due to the death of his father. He is back training and should start, with Harvey Elliott dropping to the bench.

Thiago Alcantara is back to boost the engine room but Naby Keita could keep his place. In attack, Jota will lead the line in preference to Roberto Firmino whilst Andy Robertson is back from injury at left back.

Liverpool Motivation

Motivation to win against a big rival in front of their own fans will be huge.

Expect a high-octane Liverpool approach with plenty of pressing and a high defensive line. Klopp will play to take all three points from this match.

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Chelsea Form

Chelsea look in fine form. They lost the FA Cup final last season to Leicester and were beaten 1-0 at home to Arsenal and 2-1 at Aston Villa. The side scraped into the top four places and were not in top form going into the Champions League final. They beat Man City 1-0 to lift the trophy and have started this season very well.

After a win on penalties after a 1-1 draw against Villarreal in the UEFA Super Cup, Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 3-0. A 2-0 win against Arsenal followed in a match that they dominated with 3.0 Expected Goals registered to 0.5.

Chelsea Team News

Thomas Tuchel has a pretty settled team and only really two selection decisions to make. The goalkeeper, back three and wingbacks pick themselves right now until Ben Chilwell is up to full speed.

In midfield, N’Golo Kante has trained all week and surely has to start so one of Jorginho or Mateo Kovacic will drop down to the bench in that case. Lukaku is sure to lead the line with Mason Mount in support; it’s a straight choice between Kai Havertz and Timo Werner alongside them.

Chelsea Motivation

Chelsea won this fixture last season by defending solidly and hitting Werner in the space behind Liverpool’s makeshift defence. They may look to repeat that tactic with Lukaku instead, considering Liverpool’s best defence is fit again.

A draw would not be a disaster but Chelsea will look to keep a clean sheet and to win 1-0.

Key Stats

Liverpool have won their last 7 PL matches

The Reds have kept 4 PL clean sheets in a row

Liverpool have lost only two of their last 13 PL matches vs Chelsea (W6 D5)

Only Man Utd (12) have won more PL away matches against Liverpool than Chelsea (7)

Chelsea have kept 20 clean sheets in their last 31 matches

Chelsea have seen under 2.5 goals in 23 of their last 27 matches in all competitions

Chelsea have lost 1 of their last 10 away PL matches (W7, D2)

Prediction

This looks sure to be a tight match. Chelsea have enough to avoid defeat but face a Liverpool side who are much stronger than they were in this fixture last season. The fans being back at Anfield is also a factor. A draw looks the best bet as does a low scoring match.