Having played what seems like a disproportionately large amount of games against one another over the past decade or so, it’s fair to say that Liverpool and Chelsea aren’t the best of friends.
Since Luis Garcia’s ghost goal that helped dump the Blues out of the Champions League back in 2005, feelings of hatred have become more and more visible between the two clubs but if the truth be told, Chelsea have usually got the better over Liverpool in more recent times.
Contributing to derailing Liverpool’s Premier League title challenge in the 2013/14 season, there is a great deal of resentment towards Jose Mourinho from Liverpool fans.
To be fair, the feeling is mutual with Blues supporters trying their utmost to remind every man and his dog that Steven Gerrard slipped over for Demba Ba’s goal on that fateful afternoon at Anfield two seasons ago.
With Liverpool currently on seven points and Chelsea uncharacteristically down in 13th place on just four points, both sides know that they can’t afford many more slip ups if they harbour real ambitions of catching the pacesetters Manchester City while mounting their own realistic title challenge.
So with points having already been dropped by both the Reds and Blues with apparent squad shortfalls for either, we’re taking this moment to devise a list of five Liverpool players who could be seen as a perfect fit for Chelsea right now.
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Click on the image below to reveal the 5 Liverpool players who would be a perfect fit for Chelsea.
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Nathaniel Clyne
Perhaps the biggest position of weakness in Chelsea’s armoury right now is strangely Branislav Ivanovic after an uncharacteristic out of sorts start to the season from the Serbian international.
Lazily caught letting opposition wingers past him and at times ball watching so far this campaign, Ivanovic still looks like he’s on his holidays and we haven’t often said this of the defender in his Blues career.
Only the next few games will tell whether Jose Mourinho’s hair-dryer treatment has sparked Ivanovic back to his very best form but that said, Ivanovic isn’t getting any younger and somebody who is playing at the peak of their powers at a much younger age is Liverpool’s Nathaniel Clyne.
One of the purchases of the summer having arrived for just £12.5 million from Southampton, the England international has picked up from where he left off with the Saints and looks comfortable in his new found, yet more expectant surroundings.
He’d also improve Chelsea’s quota of homegrown players to boot!
Philippe Coutinho
Given Oscar seems to have lost his place in Chelsea’s strongest eleven after a subdued finish to last season, an upgrade in the eyes of many right now would be Philippe Coutinho.
Willian has of course temporarily moved into the number 10 role at Stamford Bridge to accommodate new boy Pedro but somebody who has blossomed behind a central striker in recent seasons is Coutinho who has proved himself to be one of the best bargain signings of recent Premier League history.
Arriving at Anfield from Inter Milan for just £8.5 million, Coutinho is undoubtedly the main man for Brendan Rodgers following Luis Suarez’s departure and the diminutive Brazilian is capable of sublime long range finishes and neat intricate pieces of trickery in and around the box.
With Chelsea preferring these kind of attacking midfielders too such as Eden Hazard, just imagine if they were both in tandem!
Christian Benteke
We all know that Chelsea have achieved a great deal of success through signing and allowing big bullies of forwards to hold up the ball and hit opposition sides on the counter attack in the past.
You only have to look at Didier Drogba and more recently Diego Costa to prove that is the case and if you asked many Chelsea fans who they would’ve liked to have brought into Stamford Bridge as an extra striking addition this summer, quite a few would’ve said Christian Benteke rather than Radamel Falcao.
Benteke joined the Reds of course but given his physical attributes and clinical goalscoring nature, you feel the Belgian international is somebody that Jose Mourinho could’ve easily worked with.
James Milner
The immediate thought of a lot of our resident Chelsea fans is that James Milner wouldn’t be able to force his way into Chelsea’s side.
That said, when you dig a little deeper and look at the subdued performances of Cesc Fabregas in particular, the Blues’ Spanish maestro is struggling to make any sort of impact when playing at the moment.
Milner has enjoyeed a steady if not unspectacular start to life at Anfield after transferring from Manchester City this summer but we think Fabregas needs to do more of the simple midfield work Milner does so effectively in order to get back on side with Blues fans.
Lets also not forget that Milner has been there and done it winning two Premier League titles with Manchester City so he knows what it takes to win the biggest prize of all.
Both John Obi Mikel and Ramires aren’t held in the greatest regard either by Chelsea fans so somebody like Milner would probably be able to receive game time here and there in a Jose Mourinho side that has in fairness always accommodated hard-working pros which Milner certainly is.
Emre Can
Having only just won his first two senior caps for Germany in the recent internationals, this breakthrough represents the latest chapter in the rise and rise of Emre Can.
Described by many Liverpool fans as one of the success stories in last summer’s dour player recruitment drive, the former Bayer Leverkusen man has also proved that he’s capable of playing not only in central midfield but at centre back and right back to boot.
We know that Jose Mourinho likes players who can play in multiple positions and we saw evidence of this fact last season when the Blues boss played Kurt Zouma in central midfield to man mark Marouane Fellaini so having somebody like Can would be seen as a perfect fit somewhat.
