Chelsea vs Liverpool: a classic clash of titans in the Premier League

We don’t have to wait much longer to watch one of the most anticipated English Premier League games: the face-to-face between Chelsea and Liverpool. The clash of titans will be played on the 4th of October, at Stamford Bridge in London. The guests are the favourites to win. It isn’t a surprise. The Reds are one of the strongest teams in Europe. On the other hand, Enzo Maresca’s team, fresh from winning the FIFA Club World Cup last summer, will be keen to impress their home crowd. For expert predictions on the match, check out the Paddy Power sportsbook review, which provides all the stats and the best bonuses for this upcoming game and can give each fan an idea of where the bookmakers are going with this one.

What do the statistics tell us?

 According to the statsheet, the latest EPL match-ups between these two sides favoured Arne Slot’s team: Liverpool won 14 times, Chelsea 10 and there have been 16 draws. The Reds are flying in the national championship, while we write this. They won each and every single game they played, including the one against Arsenal, which seems to be their lone true challenger in this young season. The Blues are in a worse shape. They lost just once for now, in the Uefa Champions League, against FC Bayern in Munich, but they drew two winnable games in the EPL, against Crystal Palace (0-0, at home) and Brentford (2-2, away). The two teams will play a couple of games more before their clash, so something may change, but we have some serious difficulties in picturing Liverpool losing some points, seeing how good they are playing right now.

The stats can obviously lie but football is, after all, a numbers’ game, and this time there is a team in better shape than the other, so it is only natural to preview a win for the Reds in this one. Chelsea, however, is no pushover. It won’t be shocking to see them walk away with an important victory come October, but on paper they are the underdogs. The talent on the Reds’ side is almost overwhelming, even if some signings have still quite a lot to demonstrate (at least that is what club legend Steve Nicol thinks about the first games of Florian Wirtz, a player costed 150 million euros), and a stage like Stamford Bridge could be the right place to make a statement win and underline who the top dogs are, in the Premier League.

Possible keys to win the game

It is not easy to point out what the keys could be in a similar match-up. There are simply too many superstars on the pitch and a single play, coming from a player’s genius, could decide the outcome in a split second. However, there are some areas that can influence the whole game.

A good defense would be key number 1. There are a lot of wonderful scorers in this game and if someone scores soon enough it could be the beginning of the end for the opponent. Momentum is very important and defenders and keepers should aim to keep the opposite forwards cold and, possibly, as far away from the box as possible.

Controlling the midfield is our key number 2 to the match. This is nothing new. Also in May, when these two sides met with Liverpool having already won the Premier League, a lot of analysts pointed out this aspect. 5 months later, we have some new actors on the stage, but the play is still the same. In this area, Chelsea has two very good players, Enzo Fernandéz and Cole Palmer, that can keep the possession and create some good chances, especially if Liverpool won’t press them too much, as it is possible since Slot usually send his players pressing in the last third of the pitch, not in midfield. Could the Blues create some dangers from here? They should, otherwise they risk being caged in their own half of the pitch. This is not a position you’d like to be in, against these Reds.