LIVERPOOL and Chelsea have been the two biggest underperformers in the English Premier League this season and the misery could be accelerated for one of them even further when the sides meet at Saturday lunchtime at Anfield.
Ninth v tenth in the league really is a scandal for the size and scale of financial muscle of these clubs, but that's the current reality they both find themselves in. Combined, they have lost 13 games in the league in total. By January. That's entirely unacceptable.
Both clubs can point to enormous injury lists – the latest count suggests Chelsea have a full team of 11 players missing including the likes of N'Golo Kante, Raheem Sterling, Reece James, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Christian Pulisic. And of course, Joao Felix is now suspended after his red card at Fulham.
But they will be able to hand a debut to new £88.5 million signing Mykhailo Mudryk, which should at least give Graham Potter a boost.
Liverpool are without the likes of Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Virgil van Dijk – all huge players for them.
Both at least tasted success in their last games – Liverpool won their FA Cup replay at Wolves after poor defeats at Brentford and Brighton, while Chelsea beat Crystal Palace for only their second win in nine games,
How the bookies view it
Liverpool are odds-on across the board and the 20/23 Coral are offering is the best price to date. Chelsea can be backed at 16/5 with bet365, while the draw is also 16/5 with UniBet.
Recent head to heads
Liverpool won both the FA Cup and the League Cup last season on penalties against Chelsea after two goalless draws in the finals. Both league games were draws too. They haven't met this season yet.
Players to watch
Harvey Elliott scored the only goal and produced a Man of the Match display at Molineux on Tuesday. He is 23/4 to score anytime on Saturday with UniBet.
All eyes will be on expensive arrival Mudryk and the Ukrainian talent is 9/2 to score anytime with bet365.
Anything else catch the eye?
You need to go back to October for the last time Chelsea won away from Stanford Bridge in the league and they seem to have a particular aversion to games on the road.
Liverpool are also a long way short of what is required, but they were far better against an in-form Wolves side in midweek and should be backed to defeat a Chelsea side more depleted and injury-ravaged than Liverpool.
Neither side are on top of their game when it comes to goals and converting chances and indeed seven of Chelsea's last nine games have been under 2.5 goals.
Liverpool looked like they had tightened up a leaky defeance in midweek and the 5/4 on unders with UniBet looks the call.
This English Premier League match between Liverpool and Chelsea will be played on Jan 21, 2023 and kick off at 12:30. Check below for our tipsters best Liverpool vs Chelsea prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
