Chelsea desperately need a positive result when they take on Premier League champions Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday night. The Blues are in a fierce battle with Leicester City and Manchester United for the last two remaining Champions League qualification places so they simply cannot afford to lose against Liverpool.
You can look ahead and make football predictions for the weekend matches but the focus for Chelsea has to be on tomorrow’s game with Liverpool. The West Londoners are currently in pole position as they sit third in the table after beating Norwich City 1-0 at Stamford Bridge last week but with fifth-placed Man Utd just one point behind, the race for the top four is still wide open.
United are expected to win when they host West Ham at Old Trafford on Wednesday so Chelsea are under huge pressure to also collect all three points but that won’t be easy away to the newly-crowned champions.
Liverpool stormed their way to the title and will be looking to maintain their 100% unbeaten record at Anfield this season with another win on Wednesday having won 17 and drawn 1 of their 18 home matches this campaign.
Jurgen Klopp will be keen to get back to winning ways after losing at Arsenal last week and Liverpool will finally be presented with the Premier League trophy after this game so they won’t want to do that off the back of a loss.
Team news
Chelsea will have to assess the fitness of N’Golo Kante as he remains a doubt for the trip to Wembley due to a niggling hamstring injury that’s hampered him for the past five matches.
Fellow midfielder Billy Gilmour is certain to miss the match on Wednesday after being ruled out for up to four months following knee surgery while Marco van Ginkel is also a long-term absentee.
Liverpool will need to check on the fitness of James Milner as he’s nursing a thigh injury that’s troubled him recently while Jordan Henderson is ruled out with a knee injury that will keep him on the sidelines for several weeks.
Joel Matip is also missing for the Reds after seeing his campaign ended by a foot problem so Joe Gomez is expected to start alongside Virgil van Dijk in the middle of defence once again.
Betting odds
Liverpool are the even money favourites to win the game with the bookmakers while the draw is available at odds of 27/10. If you think Chelsea will become the first team to win at Anfield this season then you can back them at odds of 12/5.
Mohamed Salah is 4/1 to open the scoring with Sadio Mane close behind on 9/2 and they are both solid bets. For Chelsea, Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud are both 6/1 to be first goalscorer but I think Willian at 10/1 is terrific value as he’s been in excellent form lately.
The bookmakers are offering all sorts of specials for this game and we like the look of Liverpool to win either 2-1, 3-1 or 4-1 at odds of 7/2.
Prediction
Chelsea have more riding on this game as they desperately need a win to boost their hopes of finishing in the top four so Lampard will be hoping that extra motivation will be crucial. However, Liverpool have a formidable record at Anfield and won’t give up their unbeaten record easily.
There is no denying their level has dropped since they clinched the title as they’ve won just two of their last five games [W2 D1 L2] having previously barely dropped a point all season, so that should give Chelsea hope.
However, Klopp will want Liverpool to lift the trophy off the back of a win and end their home campaign on a high so I think the Reds might just edge it. I’m going with a 2-1 win for Liverpool, which can be backed at odds of 10/1.
Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea
