Liverpool Vs Chelsea - 2019/20 Premier League Matchday 37
My Pre-match thoughts
Chelsea will feature at the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League season should they beat a Liverpool side who have already secured their first Premier League win ever since the inaugural season of the English league in 1992/93. Liverpool have dropped a substantial amount of points ever since it became mathematically impossible for them to lose top spot, including a home draw to Burnley and an away defeat to Arsenal. The importance of having a Champions League campaign next season is the club's top goal this season and plays an integral part rebuilding and bringing back the Chelsea side being a team to fear for Premier League and Champions League contenders.
Participation in such a prestigious competition will attract world-class players to sign for the clubs (such as Kai Havertz or Koulibaly) as they would prefer to play for a team in the Champions League rather than the Europa League in addition to the fact that the club profits and gains more money in seasons where the club has participated in the UEFA Champions League, see this .
In conclusion, Champions League football next year is an objective that MUST be achieved.
My Prediction: Liverpool 1-2 Chelsea
Liverpool has guaranteed themselves a Premier League trophy, a goal in which they have put in a respectable and impressive amount of effort in the past few years to have finally achieved this year, however they do lack the drive to win games as they do not have any goal to achieve anymore which shows as they have dropped 10 points since Lockdown. This fixture means a lot to Chelsea as it will guarantee them Champions League football, Frank Lampard and the players know what's at stake and I am predicting a Chelsea victory.
My Ideal Line-up
Why did I go with this formation?
3-4-3 works well against top sides, and it showed against Manchester United earlier this week. Pulisic hasn't featured in the FA Cup semi-final so I'd expect to see him play a full 90-minute game against Liverpool, with Giroud and Willian starting due to their top form. Barkley has been superb since lockdown and he also impressed during Chelsea's 2-0 victory against Liverpool in the FA Cup earlier this season so I'd start him there alongside Kovacic, who has also been brilliant this season, Mount can come on for him as a sub as he's also an outstanding candidate for the midfield position. Alonso is a really effective wingback so I've selected him and Reece James' performances on the right flank has also been a joy to watch this season.
Azpilicueta is an outstanding defender and he suits the CB position more than Reece James, Zouma and Rudiger have both impressed in the semi-final clash against United.
Frank Lampard's selected side to face Liverpool (Official line up)
3-4-3 again, Lampard fully agrees on the selected defense but surprised me about Pulisic's absence from the starting line-up, bothers me but we won when Lampard pulled out this same line up against Manchester United, the fact that Lampard is using the same line up but with Kepa irritates me but we'll see what happens.
Full time, Liverpool 5-3 Chelsea
Pathetic.
My finger goes to Lampard's poor team selection and Kepa Arriabalga's disappointing goalkeeping. Chelsea signed Pulisic for 73 million dollars and he has shown us this season that he is worth absolutely every penny that was spent for him, yet Lampard starts peaked-Willian and Mason Mount in his place.
Lampard finally decided that it was time to change after trailing 4-1 to Liverpool, he subs on Captain America (aka Pulisic) alongisde Tammy Abraham and Hudson Odoi, they immediately chip balls through the back of their defense and within seconds Abraham scores from a beautiful assist from Christian Pulisic, who later makes it 4-3, giving us a glimmer of hope securing Champions League football, but now we have to go through another matchday worrying about Chelsea's league position. We also need to improve the defensive aspect of the squad - Werner, Ziyech and Havertz are all nice signings but we won't get any prestigious trophies if we don't start spending money on defense, I can't stand more crappy performances like this one alongside Europa League football.
Kepa has been inconsistent this season, he needs to improve his game ASAP otherwise he's gonna need to get loaned out to a Spanish side (preferably Atletico Madrid) to improve his game, like Courtois, while we have Oblak who is already an established goalkeeper.
meanwhile, here is a meme to lift moods up..
