- Liverpool v Chelsea
- Saturday, January 21st, 2023, 07:30 ET
- At Anfield, Liverpool
Both Liverpool and Chelsea are in crisis, but the Reds look like a better bet to beat Chelsea in the Premier League battle of the fallen giants on Saturday.
Who do Bettors Favor?
The top rated online sportsbooks are clear about the favorite for this game. Liverpool is as short as -121 with some bookmakers, while Chelsea is the underdog here, rated at +310. If you think the visitors can earn a point, you can also wager on the draw at odds of +290.
| Liverpool v Chelsea |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | -114 | -121 | -115 |
| Draw | +288 | +290 | +275 |
| Chelsea | +310 | +310 | +305 |
Can Liverpool Save its Season?
In this era of Manchester City dominance, Liverpool has provided the main competition, but the 2022/23 campaign has been a disaster and the Reds are running out of time to save its season.
Jurgen Klopp's team goes into this weekend 19 points off the pace set by Premier League leaders Arsenal and is also starting to lose touch with the Champions League qualification contenders.
Liverpool supporters have been arguing over where exactly the problem lies. Sadio Mane’s departure has not helped and neither has a string of injuries to key players. Individual players also appear to be out of form, although whether this is the cause or the consequence of the team’s struggles is hard to say.
Liverpool's season has been disappointing from the start, with only two wins in its first eight games, including morale-sapping losses to Arsenal and Manchester United, but it hasn’t improved since the World Cup break. The Reds have lost to Brighton and Brentford in consecutive away games and the players appear to have lost confidence. A win this weekend has become essential.
Potter Under Pressure
Liverpool is not the only big club having a nightmare season. The new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has, in the space of a few months, dismantled the Chelsea operating system that delivered consistent success under Roman Abramovich.
Unlike the previous owner, whose tenure saw constant success despite a high rate of manager turnover, Boehly's every move—from trying to buy Cristiano Ronaldo to firing Thomas Tuchel—has been a failure.
Graham Potter has been handed the difficult task of turning the current Chelsea squad into a top-four contender, but the task is proving to be a tough one. Potter is a highly-rated coach, but with Chelsea tenth in the Premier League standings, he is under huge pressure.
The victory over Crystal Palace last time out was a positive outcome, although the performance, against a team that is also out of form, was nothing to get excited about. Success at Anfield, however, would indicate significant progress and give Potter some breathing space.
Premier League Betting Head-to-Head
This isn’t one of the most obvious rivalries in English football, although it did begin in 1907 when the two teams played their first ever match, in the old First Division. Chelsea came out on top on that day, but Liverpool has had the better of the head-to-head matchup, winning 84 games to Chelsea’s 65, and going eleven games unbeaten in the fixture in the second half of the 1980s.
The rivalry took on its current intensity during the first part of the Abramovich era, when Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and Liverpool head coach Rafa Benitez regularly clashed. The two teams met 24 times over a five year period, leading to an animosity between Reds and Blues that remains to this day.
The last time the two clubs met was in May, when they played out a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup final, which Liverpool eventually won on penalties.
Premier League Betting Team News
Liverpool fans can at least welcome some positive team news going into the weekend. Although key starters Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota and Virgil van Dijk, are all still missing through injury, Darwin Nunez is likely to be fit to play after he was rested for the midweek FA Cup game.
There’s no such good news for Chelsea, as the Stamford Bridge injury list is extensive. The rollcall of players who will be absent here include Denis Zakaria, Raheem Sterling, Edouard Mendy, Wesley Fofana, Armando Broja, Ben Chilwell, Christian Pulisic and young start Reece James. To make things worse for Potter, Joao Felix is serving the second game of his three-match ban.
Premier League Match Betting Pick
There is an unusual air of desperation around this game as both teams go into it under huge pressure, and based on what we’ve seen this season, neither appears to be a solid bet.
There are, however, some factors in Liverpool’s favor, not least home advantage, as the team has been slightly more effective at Anfield than on the road. Chelsea’s injury problems are also more significant than Liverpool’s, so in what is likely to be a scrappy, frenetic game, Liverpool looks the best pick.
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