After a disappointing opening to their return to the Champions League during the week, Chelsea are back in action in the Premier League at the weekend when they host Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The Reds have won all five of their league games so far this season and already have bragging rights over the Blues after beating Frank Lampard’s men in a penalty shootout in the Uefa Super Cup final last month.
It’s a difficult prospect for Chelsea to face, with Liverpool boasting the best defensive record in the Premier League so far in the still-young campaign as well as scoring the second most goals in that time.
Meanwhile, Lampard’s men have shipped as many goals as they’ve scored after taking two wins, two draws and a defeat from their opening five fixtures.
Unsurprisingly, the pundits are predicting goals at the Bridge this weekend, with Sky Sports analyst Charlie Nicholas expecting a 2-2 draw.
“I think Frank Lampard wants to attack, which opens up the counter-attack scenario for Liverpool,” he said in his column for Sky Sports.
“They both got bad results in Europe through the week, they are making mistakes that they didn't make last season and you can get at their defence.
“Pedro and Willian behind Tammy Abraham is a trio of danger. They need to find the killer pass in this game, which I think they will. Liverpool will pin them in when they can, but it will be an open game of football, which will see Liverpool drop their 100 per cent record.”
Meanwhile, Mark Lawrenson has, somewhat predictably, backed his old team to take all three points back to Merseyside with a 2-0 win.
“It doesn't look like Mason Mount will be fit for Chelsea after he was injured in midweek, which does not help Frank Lampard's side,” he writes in the BBC .
“Mount and the rest of the Blues' youngsters have come in and done really well but Tuesday's defeat by Valencia was another example of how they are up one minute, and down the next.”
Similarly, Michael Owen says his former club will have too much power for Chelsea, though he admits he is looking forward to seeing Tammy Abraham go up against Virgil van Dijk.
“Despite both sides suffering midweek Champions League reverses, this is the game of the weekend and, arguably, the first serious test so far this league season of Liverpool’s title aspirations,” Owen told BetVictor as he backed a Liverpool win with both teams to score.
“There was little between the sides in the European Super Cup in Istanbul last month, and I don’t expect there will be much between the sides at Stamford Bridge although I do think the Reds will gain their 15th successive league win.
“Chelsea’s exciting young English players continue to go from strength-to-strength and I’m particularly looking forward to seeing how Tammy Abraham fares against Virgil Van Dijk and Joel Matip.”
