Liverpool vs Chelsea Preview, Team News, Line-Ups & Predicted Score

Liverpool will be looking to close the gap on Chelsea with a win when they welcome the Premier League leaders to Anfield this evening.

The Reds have endured a nightmare month with three consecutive defeats at home to Swansea, Southampton and Wolves leaving their season hanging by a thread.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have crashed out of both domestic cup competitions and the loss to Swansea has left them sitting fourth in the table and 10 points adrift of Chelsea so they desperately need a win tonight to keep their title hopes alive.

Chelsea on the other hand breezed in to the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 4-0 win over Brentford at the weekend and they know victory at Anfield tonight would take them a huge step closer to reclaiming the title.

Antonio Conte’s men sit eight points ahead of second-placed Arsenal and the aim will be to at least maintain that advantage tonight ahead of their huge showdown at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Team news

Liverpool will make a late decision over Sadio Mane after the attacker arrived back from the African Cup of Nations late last night having been left devastated after missing the decisive penalty during Senegal’s shoot-out defeat to Cameroon.

Klopp will assess the winger at Melwood this morning but a place on the bench is the best Mane can realistically hope for.

Nathaniel Clyne misses out with a rib injury so Trent Alexander-Arnold will start at right-back but Adam Lallana has been passed fit after missing the Wolves game with a nasty cut.

Chelsea have no fresh injury worries but they will recall a number of first team regulars after Conte rested his key men against Brentford with the likes of David Luiz, N’Golo Kante, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa set to return.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea: The Reds form has deserted them in recent weeks but Klopp knows any fading hopes of the title will be gone completely if they lose tonight. They desperately need a win to close the gap but the most important thing is not to lose and Chelsea will also know that a draw isn’t a bad result for them. Given how much both teams won’t want to lose, I think this might end up in a draw.