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Chelsea return to Stamford Bridge for the first time since their 5-3 drubbing at the hands of Arsenal, but this time round will look for a much happier afternoon in west London when they take on Liverpool on Sunday.
The international break came at perhaps the right time for the Blues after they picked up a narrow win over Blackburn before the two week hiatus, and now they’ll look to get their Premier League campaign back on track with a win over a Liverpool side that are keen to keep the pressure up on their rivals in the hunt for a top four spot.
The Reds stuttered into the international break with an insipid draw against newly promoted Swansea, and boss Kenny Dalglish will be growing increasingly concerned at his side’s wasteful nature in front of goal.
Liverpool squandered 18 chances against the Swans with the finishing of Luis Suarez particularly errant – in fact the Uruguayan forward has one of the worst conversion rates in the Premier League, notching only four goals from his 51 shots on goal.
While the visitors struggle with their own goal scoring exploits, Chelsea will hope to get their own misfiring striker back on track with a much needed goal or two against his former side.
Fernando Torres has fired only in fits and spurts for Chelsea since completing his £50 million move from Anfield last winter, and having failed to find since returning from his three game ban, the Spaniard will be under incredible pressure to find the net and put Chelsea back in the title race.
Torres endured a debut from hell for Chelsea as he was pitted against his former side, receiving a bloody nose thanks to the elbow of Daniel Agger and coming out on the wrong side of a 1-0 defeat.
Raul Meireles is likely to be in for similar treatment from the travelling Liverpool support having made a similar journey to Tevez over the summer.
Torres may find himself on the bench with Didier Drogba fit for selection having recovered from a minor arm operation that coincided with his three game ban for being sent off in the controversial 1-0 defeat against QPR last month.
Stephen Gerrard is once again unavailable for the game through injury, with Dalglish likely to be increasingly concerned with the injury prone nature of his skipper, however there was some good news for the Scot after the talismanic Jamie Carragher was declared fit having overcome a calf complaint.
Match Winner
Liverpool have a poor record at Stamford Bridge and have only emerged victorious in three of their 19 trips to west London, and that fact is reflected in the odds.
The Reds are placed at 4.75 (15/4) with VC Bet compared to odds of 10/11 placed on Chelsea to emerge victorious through Stan James.
The draw is 3.60 (13/5) with BWIN.
First Goalscorer
With plenty to play for at Stamford Bridge, it comes as no surprise that the first goalscorer market is particularly tight.
Somewhat surprisingly Fernando Torres is the leading favourite to get proceedings underway at the Bridge given his dry spell in front of goal recently, with Bet365 quoting odds of 6.50 (11/2) on the Spaniard scoring first.
His replacement Luis Suarez is also well paced at 9.00 (8/1) with Ladbrokes, although the fact the former Ajax man still has to come through a late fitness test may deter some.
Frank Lampard has been in excellent scoring form of late and has often been the difference between the two sides, and SkyBet’s offer of 8.00 (7/1) is particularly tempting.
Recommended Bets
Correct score: Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool, 9.00 (8/1) Ladbrokes
Halftime/fulltime: Draw/Chesea, 5.00 (4/1) William Hill
