Anfield, the scene of many a battle with Liverpool over the past several seasons, some good, some not so good, however no visit by Chelsea has seen them in such a bad situation, for a long time.
It has been a source of great humour, not only for Chelsea supporters but many across the land to see Liverpool in such a situation, however with the pairing of Gillette and Hicks now gone and some stability surrounding the club, could this be the worst time to face them?
They’ve won their last three matches, and pulled clear of the bottom three. Saint Stevie seems to be the player in form following his hat-trick in the Europa league, so hopefully he’s blown his load for the week and Mikel can subdue him. As for Chelsea, well we’re not going to worry too much about the Scousers, and let them worry about us.
Despite missing over £100million worth of talent against Spartak, we still ran out 4-1 victors, with some of our big hitters back, and late tests on others, Carlo has already named his line up for the match.
Cech in goal, back four of Ivanovic, Alex, Terry and Ashley Cole, midfield of Mikel and Zhirkov with Essien if fit, Ramires if not, and Anelka pairing Drogba up front, with Maloua supporting if fit, and Kalou if not.
Speaking before the match, John Terry said of Liverpool’s recent resurgence; “No doubt they will pick up. Hopefully it’s later rather than sooner because Anfield is always a tough place to go to get any result, but we’re confident that we’re playing well at the moment, and wherever we go and whoever we’re playing against, we are confident of winning, and we have to take the game to them.”
“We’ve done well up there recently, it was a massive win there last season obviously with the importance of the game and pressure, and other teams have gone there this season and won so we need to take advantage of that while they’re not having a good time and we are, we need to capitalise and pick up the three points.”
He added; “‘If we continue this run until Christmas when the games come thick and fast it proves difficult for the opposition, the teams in second, third or fourth if the gap is getting no closer because of us winning, it gets frustrating, so it is an important couple of months for us.”
Salomon Kalou agrees that it won’t be an easy match, stating; “‘It is going to be more difficult than last season there, it is always hard to go there. Last year was almost the game for the title and it meant a lot. We had to do a job to reach the title. This time it will be tough because Liverpool need to win games.”
“They are not in a good position but their confidence is coming back so they are going to make it hard for us. It is going to be one of the difficult games of the season.”
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