Chelsea can be crowned Premier League Champions this weekend should they defeat Liverpool at Anfield and if Manchester United lose to Sunderland.
Conversely, the Blues could feasible end the weekend two points behind Manchester United should results go the other way. It is a huge weekend, one that could define the season.
Chelsea, coming off the massive 7-0 win against Stoke City last weekend, welcome back John Terry from suspension.
He will likely replace the dependable Paulo Ferreira, with Branislav Ivanovic moving from centre half to right back. With Mikel unlikely to feature until next week, the rest of the line up will see little change.
Liverpool are coming off a gruelling 120 minutes against Athletico Madrid in the Europa League semi- final, a match which saw them knocked out by Diego Forlan’s 111th minute away goal.
With Fernando Torres out and both David N’Gog and Dirk Kuyt under injury clouds, the onus could fall on Ryan Babel in attack, along with Steven Gerrard. He though, has once again not come close to matching the achievements of Frank Lampard this season.
In October, Chelsea beat Liverpool 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. Hilario played that day, and performed what Christophe Lollichon described as “the perfect game”, making two spectacular saves to keep a well earned clean sheet.
Didier Drogba is just one goal behind Wayne Rooney in the race for the Golden Boot, with 25 and 26 goals respectively. Sunderland’s Darren Bent is still in the hunt too, with 24, whilst Carlos Tevez (22) and Frank Lampard (20) would need an amazing fortnight to win it.
Petr Cech’s 15 clean sheets are level second with Brad Friedel in the Golden Gloves standings, with Liverpool’s Pepe Reina leading with 16.
Ladbrokes has Chelsea as strong 5/6 favourites, with the draw paying 5/2. Liverpool isn’t favoured though, posted at 16/5.
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