With it being the turn of Halloween tomorrow, the Football Transfer Tavern is currently being decked out in pumpkins, hanging skeletons and rubber spiders but we wonder who’ll be having nightmares tomorrow out of Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
The great Premier League rivals will be facing off at Stamford Bridge at high noon and in truth, a draw won’t suit either with a heavy level of pressure on both sides who have been poor in recent weeks but notably Chelsea who are unrecognisable from the team that won the title only last season.
With Chelsea’s woes having continued on into this week with a Tuesday night penalty shoot-out defeat to Stoke City in the Capital One Cup despite rallying well, Liverpool managed to secure their route through to the quarter-finals courtesy of a slender Nathaniel Clyne 1-0 victory over AFC Bournemouth at Anfield.
With Jose Mourinho playing several members of his first team squad to at least try and get back some positive momentum, this could prove a factor at Stamford Bridge tomorrow with the Reds having got the job done within 90 minutes for Jurgen Klopp’s first victory in charge of the Merseyside giants.
But why else should Liverpool fans believe they can dispose of the Blues tomorrow afternoon while scooping a much-needed three points? Here’s five reasons.
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Click on the image below to reveal the five reasons why Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool will easily beat Chelsea tomorrow.
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Simply, there’s more pressure on the Blues
We’ve all see Jose Mourinho’s post Stoke City presser this week where he claimed his situation was “fantastic” and it’s fairly easy to summarise that the Blues boss is under huge pressure for results right now.
With even Brendan Rodgers being linked with the Chelsea manager’s job in recent days, things have gotten that bad for the Blues who saw Nemanja Matic sent off in a game that had everything at West Ham United last weekend.
With Jose Mourinho getting himself sent off too, it has been confirmed that he’ll be marshalling the touchline tomorrow lunchtime but with Jurgen Klopp having clawed some positive momentum in midweek courtesy of that Bournemouth win, you’d have to say that there’s more pressure on the Blues as it stands.
What’s more; so far this season, Chelsea have only really proved once that they can produce the goods in a big Premier League game under pressure against Arsenal but most other times, they’ve flattered to deceive.
Diego Costa vs Martin Skrtel WON’T be a factor?
With Diego Costa possibly out of tomorrow’s fixture against Liverpool having picked up a rib injury in midweek against Stoke City, although he hasn’t enjoyed a good season at all this term, his loss would be a huge boost for the Reds.
In games against Liverpool since his signature, we’ve all become used to the great and sometimes unsavoury battles between both the Spanish international and Reds defender Martin Skrtel and in the Capital One Cup last season, tensions overspilled between the pair and Emre Can during stamp-gate.
With Chelsea having prevailed on that occasion, the best way for Liverpool to win tomorrow is to overcome this mind games and with Costa not on the pitch, this will be to the Reds’ advantage.
Liverpool have scored in 8 of the last 10 head-to-heads
If you take a look at the stats, you’ll quickly appreciate that Chelsea are unbeaten in the clubs’ last eight head-to-heads but dig a little deeper and you’ll also see that the Reds have scored in eight of the last 10 meetings.
With Chelsea’s defence having proved pretty watertight over the last five or six years, the Reds have usually found a way through and their task this time will be to ensure that they don’t leak any at their end which will be easier said than done given their own deficiencies.
However, although Liverpool have often scored against Chelsea and lost, the Blues’ defence is currently performing worse than it has done in an incredibly long time so with this in mind, Liverpool shouldn’t be living in fear.
The returning Benteke will relish facing a below-par Chelsea defence
As reported by Sky Sports earlier on today, Christian Benteke has declared himself fit for tomorrow’s game at Chelsea and this will be a huge boost to the Reds whose supporters have put up with feeble performances from Divock Origi in his and Daniel Sturridge’s absence.
Scoring a fine header against Southampton last weekend, Benteke has already proved that he’ll gobble up chances if he receives the service from wide areas and with the similarly aerially mobile Andy Carroll having struck gold against the Blues last week, who’s to say Benteke can’t do the same tomorrow?
As already alluded to, Chelsea’s defence is making mistakes on more of a regular basis than ever before given their midfield hasn’t sufficiently been protecting them like they usually do this term and if Liverpool can get good delivery in from crosses, we think Benteke could be in business.
The Blues’ luck with decisions isn’t changing
In fairness to the Blues, although Jose Mourinho doesn’t act with an ounce of humility on most occasions, Chelsea have been on the end of some appalling calls already this season.
Having seen Cesc Fabregas’ goal at West Ham United ruled out last week when surely the benefit of the doubt should’ve been given to him as the attacker, that could’ve put the eventual loss in a different light altogether.
Seemingly each week in the Premier League, we expect Chelsea’s fortunes to change around with the club returning to their former high levels but we saw again in the week despite a good performance that their luck just isn’t turning around with Jack Butland producing an incredible solo performance to thwart numerous Blues attacks.
With referees seemingly going against the Blues probably because of Mourinho’s flurry of attacks upon them in the past before falling silent through risk of future bans, we think this could again put the Reds at an advantage tomorrow afternoon.
