Chelsea v Liverpool - Rodgers on fantastic games between the pair | English Premier League
- 10 years ago
Chelsea captain John Terry could be restored to the side after completing his four-match domestic ban.
Juan Mata and David Luiz are fit after missing the draw with Swansea last weekend, but Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard remain out.
Liverpool's Glen Johnson returns from a hamstring injury to face his former club, while goalkeeper Pepe Reina could be fit following a similar problem.
There will be a recall for several players rested in Europe on Thursday.
MATCH PREVIEW
Logic suggests that Liverpool cannot win this game, but history suggests otherwise. They have, after all, secured a Premier League double over Chelsea in three of the last four seasons and have lost only two of their last 11 league meetings.
Even so, it's hard to see beyond a Chelsea win. That's not to criticise Brendan Rodgers, who is stripping down the Anfield bodywork and engine to start afresh almost from scratch. It looks like it's only the beginning of the major overhaul which Liverpool have needed for some time - but it may get worse for them before it starts getting better.
Chelsea have been excellent in the league this season. There cannot be many better threesomes than Oscar, Mata and Hazard, and a winning Chelsea team without Frank Lampard and John Terry is suddenly not only looking plausible but actually preferable.
I am convinced their biggest hurdle to success continues to lie upfront. The reality is that defender Gary Cahill's goals per game record at the club is superior to that of Fernando Torres, and the Spaniard is almost always unrecognisable from the player who was so electric in his first two years at Liverpool.
He looks resigned to his diminished power and pace, weighed down by frustration and thoroughly unhappy. I don't put this down to leaving Liverpool or to joining Chelsea, but rather to the effects of injuries that started to take their toll when he was still at Anfield, along with an unrelenting schedule of summer football - Torres has had one summer off since 2007.
I am s
Juan Mata and David Luiz are fit after missing the draw with Swansea last weekend, but Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard remain out.
Liverpool's Glen Johnson returns from a hamstring injury to face his former club, while goalkeeper Pepe Reina could be fit following a similar problem.
There will be a recall for several players rested in Europe on Thursday.
MATCH PREVIEW
Logic suggests that Liverpool cannot win this game, but history suggests otherwise. They have, after all, secured a Premier League double over Chelsea in three of the last four seasons and have lost only two of their last 11 league meetings.
Even so, it's hard to see beyond a Chelsea win. That's not to criticise Brendan Rodgers, who is stripping down the Anfield bodywork and engine to start afresh almost from scratch. It looks like it's only the beginning of the major overhaul which Liverpool have needed for some time - but it may get worse for them before it starts getting better.
Chelsea have been excellent in the league this season. There cannot be many better threesomes than Oscar, Mata and Hazard, and a winning Chelsea team without Frank Lampard and John Terry is suddenly not only looking plausible but actually preferable.
I am convinced their biggest hurdle to success continues to lie upfront. The reality is that defender Gary Cahill's goals per game record at the club is superior to that of Fernando Torres, and the Spaniard is almost always unrecognisable from the player who was so electric in his first two years at Liverpool.
He looks resigned to his diminished power and pace, weighed down by frustration and thoroughly unhappy. I don't put this down to leaving Liverpool or to joining Chelsea, but rather to the effects of injuries that started to take their toll when he was still at Anfield, along with an unrelenting schedule of summer football - Torres has had one summer off since 2007.
I am s