Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri said over the weekend that his side is about a year or so behind both Manchester City and Liverpool. Well, this week provides the perfect opportunity to see just close to being at Liverpool’s level they really are right now, as they’ll face the Reds twice.
The first meeting comes on the road in the EFL Cup third round tomorrow. The second clash will be at home on Saturday in a league fixture. I guess we’ll learn quite a bit from the two contests. Wednesday night is of course the appetizer to the weekend’s main course, as the stakes are certainly lower in the Carabao Cup.
So let’s take a look at who Sarri could start in this one. Eden Hazard is certainly fired up for this double header, but we doubt he sees major minutes in this one.
The Sports Bank Starting XI Prediction
Forwards: Pedro, Alvaro Morata, Willian
Midfielders: Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Ross Barkley
Defenders: Emerson Palmieri, Gary Cahill, Andreas Christensen, Davide Zappacosta
Goalkeeper: Willy Caballero
Kick-off: 745 pm (BST), Wednesday Sept 26
Odds via Sky Bet: Chelsea 31/10, Liverpool 7/8
Liverpool starting XI prediction: go to this link
Match Preview/Injury Report: go to this link
Prediction: Liverpool 3, Chelsea 2
Feel free to post your own Chelsea and/or Liverpool starting XI predictions, as well as your best guess as to what the final score will be. Enjoy the match everybody!
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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