Let Suhail Seedat talk you through one of the most eagerly anticipated fixtures in the domestic calender. It’s now got an added spice attached to it following the hectic January transfer window dealings which saw former darling of the Kop Fernando Torres swap Liverpool for Chelsea.
The two have a bitter rivalry based on their recent Champions League history but the full attention for both teams on Sunday will be on getting three points.
Tale of the tape
Chelsea come into the game having won three on the bounce in the league and are overall the second best form team over the past six games. Their home form has been chequered with Chelsea suffering a shock defeat to Sunderland and dropping points late in the game to Aston Villa and Everton.
The champions lie ten points adrift of leaders Manchester United and having seen United lose away to Wolves, much like themselves, they’ll feel they have to capitalise otherwise their ambitions of title retention are all but over.
Liverpool have picked up ten in eighteen, with all of those points coming under Dalglish’s reign over the past four games. Like Chelsea, Liverpool have won three on the bounce but their away record has been atrocious with wins against Bolton and Wolves only this season.
Liverpool’s record at Stamford Bridge is fairly poor too with only two wins since the inauguration of the Premier League - the last win coming in 2008. A win for Liverpool will get the Reds into a top six position, six points off a top four spot.
Predicted Teams:
Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole; Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Anelka; Drogba, Torres
Liverpool: Reina; Kelly, Skrtel, Agger, Johnson; Kuyt, Lucas, Gerrard, Meireles, Maxi; Suarez
Anelka as a trequartista
The transfer for Torres offers a tactical dilemma for Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti, albeit a welcomed one. He now has three strikers who can offer a threat in attacking positions but needs to find the right balance therefore not sacrificing the territory to the opposition.
Neutrals may want to see an open 4-3-3 system with three natural strikers though realistically with Chelsea having a lot of catching up to do, there is little time for experimentation. Besides Ancelotti in his career has shown that despite wanting free flowing attacking football, there is a measure of control in the way the team retains possession and shape.
When Ancelotti arrived at Chelsea, he played one of his more favoured systems - 4-4-2 diamond which entails his full backs to work as orthodox wing backs to provide the width as the diamond is structured so the midfield can triangulate the ball quicker than a flat midfield.
Against Sunderland, Ancelotti reverted to this system from the 4-3-3, which Chelsea have been successful playing since Mourinho has been in charge, to see whether the team has the cutting edge to carve open the opposition with Anelka using his game intelligence to set his team-mates (Kalou and Drogba) free. Anelka does not possess the pace of yesteryear but does have the technical skill - passing, vision, touch - to play this position.
The £50 price tag on Torres’ head means there will be added pressure on Ancelotti to make sure the Spaniard starts games. It will question Ancelotti’s tactical ability as the season progresses as he has to fit in all three into a system which ensures the team functions well in both the league and especially the trophy which owner Roman Abramovich covets, the Champions League.
Liverpool’s wide men
As the emphasis will be on Ashley Cole and José Bosingwa to provide the width to deliver the crosses and stretch the Liverpool defence, the responsibility may fall onto Maxi and Dirk Kuyt to provide good tracking cover to nullify Chelsea’s threat. As mentioned, the Chelsea midfield may be very narrow and by playing Raul Meireles, Steven Gerrard and Lucas in a tight midfield in the centre, the ball may have to be forced out wide to get any joy of creating chances.
The back four of Liverpool will probably not be as adventurous as they were against Stoke as the wings backs in a very peculiar 3-4-2-1 system were given the freedom to roam forward as much as possible knowing they had insurance in the three centre backs.
Potentially with Chelsea playing with three strikers, the convention is to have one covering defender so the likelihood of either Kelly or Johnson joining the attack is rather slim, especially away from home.
Luis Suarez
The Uruguayan is the x-factor in this game. Having made a brief cameo scoring sixteen minutes into his Anfield debut - much like the striker he replaced - Chelsea may find it difficult coming to grips with the style of footballer Suarez is and how he deals with defenders like John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic.
Both are monstrous towering centre backs who undoubtedly will welcome the former Ajax man at any given opportunity however having seen how they have in the past suffered dealing with false nine strikers, it could be a difficult afternoon for the centre back pairing.
Suarez is probably best described as being in the Carlos Tevez mould - very industrious, skillful, energetic and audacious in his attempts to surprise the opposition. His intelligence and vision sees him linking well with the midfield which again could see the area which Mikel likes to patrol in, somewhat overcrowded.
As Chelsea shown against Man City and Arsenal away this season, both who played false nine strikers in Tevez and Robin van Persie, they struggled to come to grips with their free movement and at times were caught surprised with the wide play too.
City played with David Silva and James Milner constantly cutting in and looking to penetrate between full back and centre back whilst Arsenal used the pace of Theo Walcott and Samir Nasri to go round their opposing full backs and using Robin van Persie as a pivot in order to do so. Liverpool may not have that luxury with Maxi and Kuyt lacking pace but their reading will be key in trying to support Suarez should he receive the ball in the final third.
The game’s headlines will be all about Torres facing his former club in his Stamford Bridge debut however it will provide interesting tactical problems for both teams. Steve Clark will be asked to use his insider knowledge by Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish to help the Reds get the upper hand, which could see the Merseysiders complete a double should they win against the men of Kings Rd.
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Tags: Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea, Fernando Torres, Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool, Luis Suarez, Nicolas Anelka
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