There is much more to Sunday’s big Premier League clash between Chelsea and Liverpool at Stamford Bridge than Fernando Torres with plenty at stake for both sides as they look to fulfill their ambitions this season.
Three defeats so far for the Blues is hardly the start that fans were hoping for under new boss Andre Villas-Boas, with his side in danger of getting left behind the two Manchester clubs as they are already nine points behind the leaders going into the weekend’s round of matches.
There is, of course, still plenty of time to go in the title race but Chelsea cannot afford too many more slip-ups, with Carlo Ancelotti’s second place last year not enough to save him from the axe.
Liverpool themselves were reinvigorated by Kenny Dalglish’s appointment last January but expectations have risen following the huge outlay on players, which so far have not been met.
The Reds have lost just twice this season but are lying in sixth place in the table, three points behind Spurs in fifth who have a game in hand, although a victory on Sunday would see them draw level with currently fourth-placed Chelsea.
The Reds spent big up front in January on Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll, while Craig Bellamy was a summer acquisition, but goals have been a problem with just 14 from their opening 11 games.
This is particularly the case at Anfield with the unbeaten run masking the fact that they have won only two of six games in front of their own fans.
According to the stats, Suarez has had 51 shots in the Premier League this season but only found the back of the net on four occasions – although he has been unlucky in the sense that Liverpool have hit the woodwork a league-high of 10 times.
A current race-row involving Patrice Evra may not be the ideal situation for Suarez at the moment, although he will be going into the game on the back of becoming the first player to score four goals in an international for Uruguay – and is priced at 7/1 to open the scoring, 15/8 anytime.
On the other side is former Liverpool golden boy Torres – who is still trying to justify the £50m that Chelsea splashed out in acquiring his services on transfer deadline day last January – scoring just five goals in 30 appearances.
He failed to score on his debut for the Blues in this fixture last year but has hardly done himself any favours with his comments about his departure from Anfield earlier in the week.
Torres is a 5/1 chance to open the scoring in the match, although Didier Drogba is available again after recovering from an arm operation and the Ivorian is the 9/2 favourite.
Chelsea will not find it easy going as, despite their problems in front of goal, Liverpool have been miserly in defence with just 10 goals conceded and just 38 shots allowed on target, while goals have been hard to come by in this fixture as a whole as well – Under 2.5 goals in the Total Goals betting looks good value at 5/6.
Chelsea have failed to find the net in five of the last seven Premier League games and three of the last four at home against Liverpool, while one of the teams has kept a clean sheet in 10 of the last 11 meetings.
These two sides have met a whopping 28 times in all competitions since 2004, with Chelsea holding the edge with 12 wins to nine, but they have struggled of late and may fail to justify 5/6 favouritism – with Liverpool priced at 7/2 to upset the odds, and the draw on offer at 5/2.
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