The biggest match of this Premier League weekend happens also to be the first as table-toppers Chelsea travel to Anfield to face a beleaguered Liverpool side in the early Saturday afternoon kick off. The Reds have already lost six of their 15 matches this season in all competitions (prior to their daunting trip to Real Madrid in midweek) and after defeat at the hands of recently struggling Newcastle at St James’ in their last league match, three points are sorely needed here.
Chelsea, though, are flying high at the moment, and despite a couple of below par performances of late (notably when they scraped past Shrewsbury in the League Cup) they keep getting positive results. They have won 12 and drawn three of their matches thus far, two of those draws coming in the league when travelling to the two Manchester clubs, and Jose Mourinho will be confident of getting the win at Anfield as they did last season in a match that ended 2-0 to the Blues and effectively ended Liverpool’s title challenge.
On the back of that, of course, the home side will be gunning for revenge. And with their best striker Daniel Sturridge looking like he could return to action here against his old club, could Liverpool’s season get the boost it needs with victory on Saturday? Frankly, we doubt it. Even if they do gel from an attacking point of view, defensively the Reds have looked truly ramshackle at times this term and the like of Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard will relish the opportunity to pick holes through the porous backline to supply Diego Costa who has the skill and wherewithal to punish any mistakes.
The bookies think Chelsea will take the three points with Sky Bet making them the 23/20 favourites compared to odds of 5/2 with BetVictor available for a home win. The draw might tempt some at 5/2 with Bet365, but – as you will see from the following betting tips – we think Chelsea will cruise to victory.
Betting Tips
- Chelsea to win – At odds-against, backing Chelsea simply to win the match looks very good value to us, whether Sturridge plays or not. Sky Bet and others price the visitors at 23/20 and we’ll be grabbing a big chunk of that after watching Liverpool’s poor displays in their last two league matches against Hull (0-0) and Newcastle.
- Diego Costa to score first – Costa is likely to be rested when Chelsea visit Maribor in midweek, meaning he’ll be fresh and raring to go here. With such an impressive strike rate since his move to the Premier League we think backing him to get the opener looks decent enough value at 4/1 with Coral.
- Chelsea to win and both teams to score – Times are tough for Liverpool at the moment, but we think they will come out fighting on Saturday. While this is likely to leave them exposed at the back and will probably cost them the game, we do think the home side will find at least one goal of their own and backing the Blues to win but both teams to score looks good to us at odds of 10/3 with Coral.