There's midweek Premier League action this week and Tuesday serves up an interesting game between the two faltering behemoths, Chelsea and Liverpool. Both sides suffered morale-damaging beatings over the weekend and will be desperate to produce a reaction in what will be a mid-table clash.
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Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly finally lost patience with his Graham Potter long-term project over the weekend, with the Blues' 2-0 defeat to visiting Aston Villa proving to be the final nail in the coffin for Potter's reign in the Blues dugout.
The Blues find themselves sitting in the bottom half of the table, currently in the 11th place, and interim manager Bruno Saltor has been tasked with steadying the ship until a permanent replacement is found, with the likes of Julian Nagelsmann, Brendan Rodgers, and Ruben Amorim all in the running.
While the Blues are still a chance they can salvage a lower-tier European spot from this nightmare of a season that has seen them get worse despite spending over £500m on new signings, they must start with the visit of Liverpool in the Premier League.
As for Liverpool, they aren't firing on all cylinders either, having lost back-to-back Premier League matches, including a 4-1 humiliation to rivals Manchester City over the weekend.
The Reds are only slightly better off than their opponents in the table as they sit eighth in the standings and have lost significant ground in the race for Champions League football next season.
📺 Watch Chelsea vs Liverpool live on Peacock in the U.S.
Facing Potter’s sluggish Chelsea outfit would have been the perfect recipe for the Reds to redeem themselves, and get back on track.
However, things have changed in the dugout since and it will be interesting to see how Jurgen Klopp sets his side up as it’s hard to know how the Blues will look under a coach who was an integral part of Potter’s Brighton spell.
Chelsea and Liverpool have both fallen short of expectations this season, but there is still time to finish strongly, and fans will be hoping for a victory on Tuesday that will hopefully kickstart their season.
But then again, we said the same thing for the reverse fixture back in January, which ended in a scoreless stalemate.
Chelsea vs Liverpool confirmed lineups
Chelsea XI (3-5-2): Kepa; Fofana, Koulibaly, Cucurella; James, Kante, Kovacic, Fernandez, Chilwell; Felix, Havertz
Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Gomez, Matip, Konate, Tsimikas; Henderson, Fabinho, Jones; Jota, Firmino, Nunez
Chelsea vs Liverpool LIVE updates
Chelsea and Liverpool's upcoming games
Having suffered a 6-1 aggregate thrashing at the hands of Real Madrid, Liverpool are already out of the Champions League, and have only got league action to look forward to.
While that may give them some relief from fixture congestion, their next fixture is against league leaders Arsenal at the weekend, so they can't afford a slip-up here at this crucial juncture as they risk finishing out of Europe altogether, let alone in top-four.
Unlike Liverpool, Chelsea have the pleasant distraction of the Champions League, which may turn sour if serial Champions League winners Real Madrid put them to the sword next mid-week in Madrid. Prior to that, the Blues will make the trip to Molineux to face a relegation-threatened Wolverhampton Wanderers.