The Liverpool vs Chelsea Premier League match will be played on Sunday, April 27, at Enfield, Liverpool’s stadium. The Reds are currently in a five-point-lead over the London team, so if they continue their 11 match winning streak in this match, they will be very near historic success, and winning the Premier League after a 24-year-drought. If Chelsea wins, they will be back in champion’s title race, 2 games before end, with 2 points margin.
In their last 10 matches, Liverpool won 5 of them, Chelsea had only 2 victories, 3 matches ended with a draw, but in their last meeting which occurred this season, Chelsea beat Liverpool by 2 goals to 1.
Mourinho already told the press that he will rest some of his best players, stating the Champions League is a priority. Right after the derby with Liverpool, Chelsea is playing second leg of the semifinal with Atletico Madrid in London, and they have a good result from Spain – 0:0. Allegedly, all the focus would be on that match, and Mourinho stated that is the match of the season, not the match with Liverpool. The Portuguese manager also believes that the title in England is not realistic, nor that was the Chelsea’s goal this season.
But, we must state that Mourinho is famous for his “mind-games”, and this season he did that in lot of occasions, like when he stated that the Chelsea isn’t the club which is the candidate for title, and even when he was the leader, he was constantly saying that the Chelsea isn’t the true leader, and that the table is “false”, because of the rescheduled matches of Manchester City. Meanwhile, City and Chelsea lost some points to outsiders, and Liverpool began its huge winning streak, currently 11, leading to a strong position and almost touching the trophy.
However, there is no doubt that Brendan Rodgers would never fall under Mourinho’s deceptive spells. He knows him too well, since these two were friends and associates in Chelsea, before Mourinho departed to Inter.
Considering the game, it is expected that Chelsea is playing “a waiting game”, while Liverpool will attack, as they always did this season. In a last few games, Liverpool’s defense was very vulnerable – dare we say, poor – but no matter how many goals the defense conceded, the attack scored more. Sunday could be a different story, because Liverpool, as they have by far the best attack in the league, is playing against Chelsea, by far the best defense team. Chelsea has the power to match Liverpool’s brutal striking force. Nemanja Matic and David Luiz could feature as defensive midfielders, to provide a good cover for defenders. They are mobile, great players on ball, and they take great positions when without it. Hazard and Ramires will be unavailable, and that can a problem for the Blues, but Schurrle and Salah are ready, and willing to take their chance.
It will be very interesting to see how the game will evolve if Chelsea scores first. If that occurs, they will probably defend the lead even more vigorously, and Liverpool would leave them even more space at the back for their counter attacks.
This game should give the final answer to the question – can Liverpool win the historic champions title? They are certainly on a good way, but they’ll have to make three more great steps…
