Liverpool v Chelsea Preview

[b]Match:[/b] Liverpool v Chelsea

[b]Date:[/b] 21st April 2013

[b]Time:[/b] 15:00

[b]Competition:[/b] Premier League

[b]Last Meeting:[/b] Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool (Terry) (Suarez)

[b]League Position:[/b] Liverpool - 7th Chelsea - 3rd

[b]Form:[/b] Liverpool - DDWLW Chelsea - WWLWW

Liverpool have had 2 poor draws in the last two outings at Reading and against West Ham. Impressive wins at in-form Aston Villa and a home win over Champions League chasing Tottenham sandwiched another poor defeat at Southampton. Inconsistency has been a thorn in the reds' side all season.
Chelsea had 4 comfortable wins mixed in with a defeat against Southampton. They've also kept 3 clean sheets, but haven't been as prolific in goal, probably with their exploits in the Europa League.

[b]Key men: [/b]

Luis Suarez is obviously the reds key man, he's gone 4 without a goal, but is still the league's leading scorer with 22, also with 4 assists. Gerrard has been consistent for most of the season and has 10 goals and 9 assists while new boy Philippe Coutinho has made a big impact since joining in January and was awarded Standard Chartered Player of the Month for March.
Chelsea's best player in my opinion is Juan Mata. With 10 goals and 11 assists in the league and something crazy like 18 goals and 23 assists in all competitions, he has to be a contender for Player of The Year. Frank Lampard is just 3 goals short of being Chelsea's record scorer and is the club's top goalscorer in the league while Eden Hazard has been world-class at times this season.

[b]Head to Head: [/b]

5 of the last 6 meetings have been at Stamford Bridge with the one game at Anfield ending 4-1 to the reds at the back end of last season. There was a 1-1 draw at the bridge earlier in the season, while Chelsea's 2-1 win in the FA Cup Final last season ended a run of 4 consecutive defeats against the reds, 3 of them at the bridge. Liverpool have scored 13 goals in the last 7 games against the blues, conceding just 3. Overall, Liverpool have 69 wins against Chelsea's 52, with 34 draws.

[b]Who'll score first?[/b]

Suarez has scored his side's first goal an impressive 9 times this season, with Gerrard coming in next on 4 occassions. Frank Lampard and Juan Mata have done so 5 times for Chelsea. In the last 7 meetings, 3 players have scored twice, Ramires for Chelsea, Maxi for Liverpool and Fernando Torres, now of Chelsea, for Liverpool.

[b]Missing players:[/b]

Liverpool: Sterling, Kelly, Borini and Allen all injured.

Chelsea: A.Cole, Cahill and Romeu all injured.

[b][i][u]***Prediction***[/u][/i][/b]: This game will be a cracker, the history between the clubs only gets even more sparkle after each game. But I think the reds will have the edge. 2-1.