Liverpool v Chelsea: Both sides to oblige in Saturday stalemate

Liverpool v Chelsea
Saturday 25th November 2017, 17:30
Live on BT Sport

Liverpool look to rebound from Sevilla embarrassment

Liverpool will look to rebound from their midweek horror show in Seville. The Reds raced into a three-goal lead before inexplicably capitulating to allow their La Liga hosts level late on, denying Jurgen Klopp's outfit a confirmed place at the top of their Champions League group.

A silver lining from Tuesday's debacle was the return of Sadio Mane to the side. The Senegalese star grabbed a goal in another impressive performance and his ability on the flank opposite to in-form Mo Salah should give the Merseysiders a major counter-attacking threat on Saturday.

The hosts are sweating on the fitness of Joel Matip, who has missed Liverpool's last two matches, but otherwise Klopp has a largely unchanged squad to select from at Anfield.

Chelsea's scheduling complaints

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is unhappy over the scheduling of Saturday's fixture, coming so soon after Wednesday night's 5000-mile round trip to Baku to face Qarabag in the Champions League. The Blues squad only arrived back in the capital in the early hours of Thursday before travelling north on Friday.

Despite the understandable grumbles, the Londoners have found form of late and were able to sweep aside their Azerbaijani hosts while resting Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko,Andreas Christensen and Gary Cahill. Conte also had the luxury to haul Edin Hazard, Marcos Alonso and N'Golo Kante off early.

Victor Moses remains the only absentee from Chelsea's preferred starting XI with Davide Zappacosta expected to fill the right wing-back berth here.

Honours even on Merseyside

Liverpool 2.18 are unbeaten in five Premier League meetings with Chelsea 3.60 (W2-D3-L0) but their two triumphs both arrived at Stamford Bridge. Indeed, the Reds haven't taken top honours at Anfield since 2012 (W0-D3-L2) with each of the last three meetings on Merseyside ending 1-1.

A repeat result shouldn't be ruled out and the draw is backable at 3.65 with correct scorehunters offered an attractive 8.00 on the two teams grabbing a goal apiece. Both selections are well worth an interest on Saturday evening.

Since Klopp arrived at Anfield. Liverpool have won the most points in head-to-head matches between Big Six rivals. But the Reds have drawn six of 12 such encounters on Merseyside (W5-D6-L1) and Chelsea boast the quality and tenacity to take advantage of their hosts' obvious flaws in defence.

Stats suggest both sides will score

Both Teams To Score has provided profit in 11 of the most recent 12 Premier League showdowns between these two but 1.64 quotes are too skinny to entertain on Saturday and Over 2.5 Goals 1.73 isn't hugely appealing at the current price.

The duo are regular contributors to goal-heavy games however, it's worth noting that five of Liverpool's last seven matches when welcoming Big Six sides have featured fewer than three goals and the same can be said for half of Chelsea's road trips to the same sample of opposition during their title-winning campaign.

Recommended Bets
Back the draw @ 3.65 in Liverpool v Chelsea
Back the 1-1 correct score @ 8.00 in Liverpool v Chelsea