Preview: Chelsea vs Liverpool
Liverpool begin their quartet of final games post-PL victory when they travel to take on Chelsea on Sunday.
CHELSEA VS. THE PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
| Sunday, May 4th |
Premier League | Stamford Bridge
4:30PM GMT/11:30AM EST
As a Liverpool fan for the past 15 years, I have seen my fair share of dead rubber Premier League games. Games whe re Liverpool were drowning firmly in the middle of the table; games where Manchester City had mathematically clinched it after a hard fought season; games where the Champions League was already confirmed with nothing else to gain,
This will be my first experience watching a game being played after Liverpool have been declared champions. This is just their victory tour, the countdown to the trophy lift.
What does this feel like? What does it look like? Who the hell is Arne Slot going to play? How many more goals will Mo Salah score? We will have to wait to find out.
On a sadder note, this is probably also the countdown to the last time we will see Trent Alexander-Arnold in a red shirt, if popular consensus is to be believed.
Chelsea, on the other hand, are still very much in the running for a Champions League position, so they will be on the hunt when Liverpool come down for a visit. They are two points behind Newcastle in fourth, and four points behind third placed Manchester City. On the other side, they are equal on points with Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, so they are very much still in the competition mindset.
It will be an interesting dynamic to watch. Hopefully Liverpool will use those winning endorphins to keep the good times going at Stamford Bridge.
Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Gravenberch, Jones; Salah, Elliott, Gakpo; Diaz
Look, I don’t know. Who’s to say what configuration of players we’ll see tomorrow afternoon. All we know for certain is that Joe Gomez continues to be out of commission. Conor Bradley should even be available.
For Chelsea, Wesley Fofana, Omari Kellyman, Marc Guiu, Aaron Anselmino, and Mykhaylo Mudryk will all be unavailable. Both Robert Sanchez and Christopher Nkunku require late fitness checks to determine if they’ll play.
What the Managers Had to Say
Arne Slot: “It’s nice that we play some very strong teams with Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton and [Crystal] Palace, so that gives immediately the challenge to those games. It’s the end of the season but we also have to look at this as the start of next season already. It’s Chelsea away first.”
Enzo Maresca: “It’s always nice to play in this kind of game, but I don’t think they [Liverpool] will be any different or relaxed because they have already won the title.”
The Officials
Referee: Simon Hooper. Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Simon Long. Fourth official: Tony Harrington. VAR: John Brooks. Assistant VAR: Matthew Wilkes.
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Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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