The State of Play
Liverpool, less than a week after the announcement that Jurgen Klopp would depart the club at the end of the season, head into this clash with Chelsea with the intention of finishing his reign on a high and potentially with a quadruple. The Reds hammered Norwich at the weekend and begin this match day sitting five points clear of Manchester City at the top-of-the-table, albeit City do have a game-in-hand.
Chelsea had been improving with results over the New Year with three successive Premier League victories, albeit unconvincingly, against Crystal Palace, Luton Town and Fulham. They lost to Middlesbrough but arguably had their best performance of the season in the second-leg of that EFL Cup semi-final tie, hammering ‘Boro by six goals to one at Stamford Bridge. The Blues shared a goalless draw with Aston Villa in the FA Cup fourth round at the weekend.
Read our other football news stories here:
Postecoglou: Spurs won’t be busy between now and deadline
Pochettino: Klopp news won’t change anything for Liverpool
Frank hoping for Brentford transfer activity but Nusa deal in doubt
Team News
Jurgen Klopp remains without several key first-teamers for this midweek clash with Chelsea as the likes of Joel Matip, Stefan Bajcetic, Thiago Alcantara and Kostas Tsimikas unavailable. Mohamed Salah is also expected to be missing throughout the month of February, whilst Wataru Endo is away on international duty.
Chelsea have several availability concerns for this trip to Anfield on Wednesday evening. Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Marc Cucurella, Lesley Ugochukwu and Trevoh Chalobah are all unavailable, whilst Nicolas Jackson is away at the Africa Cup of Nations. Both Romeo Lavia and Christopher Nkunku are nearing returns and could feature.
Expected Line-ups
Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Jones; Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Gakpo
Chelsea: Petrovic; Disasi, Silva, Badiashile, Chilwell; Caicedo, Fernandez; Madueke, Gallagher, Sterling; Palmer
What they Said
After Liverpool’s comfortable and impressive 5-2 hammering of Norwich City in the fourth round of the FA Cup, Jurgen Klopp praised supporters but did say ‘we need an atmosphere on the pitch and for that, we need the crowd. Just don’t think about the manager.’
Mauricio Pochettino heaped the praise on defender, Alfie Gilchrist, suggesting ‘he was really good’ in their goalless draw against Aston Villa and he may keep his place as they face Liverpool this week with both Malo Gusto and Reece James both still unavailable.
When and How to Watch
This match will be played at Anfield at 20:15 on Wednesday January 31st and will be shown live on TNT Sports in the UK. It will also be streamed live on the TNT Sports app.
Prediction
This one has the potential to be a real thriller at Anfield. They will meet each other at the end of February when they face off in the EFL Cup final at Wembley Stadium and recent games between the two have not been the most thrilling with all of their last six finishing all-square, albeit Liverpool winning two of those via a penalty shootout. However, despite the cagey nature of those match-ups, this one promises to be a bit more entertaining and both teams scoring would appear quite likely.
