After facing each other four times last season, Liverpool and Chelsea are set for the first meeting of 2022-23 on Saturday with both teams needing to put an end to a run of draws in the match-up.
This fixture has a long history of draws but can either side win at least one half on Saturday? Bookmaker 10bet has the odds at 1.41 for Liverpool to win at least one half and at 2.30 for Chelsea to win one.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: January 20th, 8:30 A.M. (EST)
The two teams shared the points on both occasions in the league last season and ended up playing out a pair of draws in cup competitions as well. With both struggling for form, a point won’t be good enough this time around and this sets the stage nicely for an entertaining clash.
Liverpool just had their best stretch of the season with four consecutive league wins but back-to-back defeats have followed and there’s now a real danger of losing three on the trot in the Premier League for only the second time since Jurgen Klopp arrived in 2015.
Following last Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to Brighton, Klopp admitted that it was the worst game he has ever experienced. The Liverpool manager will be looking to get a big reaction from the side and beating a big team would definitely be a nice morale booster for the team.
Meanwhile, Chelsea will be just as desperate to get three points on the board Saturday. The team has recorded only two wins from its last nine league outings and is barely hanging on to a top-half position. Graham Potter has struggled to get goals out of the side and before beating Crystal Palace last weekend 1-0, Chelsea had recorded just one clean sheet in eight league games.
Liverpool have also been defensively poor throughout the season and the absence of Virgil van Dijk is a further blow for the back-line. Getting goals shouldn’t be a problem this time around for Chelsea but a good defensive effort will also be needed against a team that has the fifth-best scoring record in the league.
Chelsea have invested heavily into the back-line since the summer, spending £226 million on four defenders, and the club needs to start getting something back for the huge sum spent. Keeping Liverpool at bay would be a good sign of things starting to work out and it might just reignite the Blues’ season.
