Stamford Bridge on Sunday will feel at the centre of the football world. Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton look behind the big headlines…
TALKING POINTSSometimes you only notice that the landscape has changed when the storm has passed. The events of Monday, with Liverpool battling and failing to hold on to their idolised striker, carry greater symbolism than the loss of goals and shirt sales on Merseyside.
At 10.47 pm Fernando Torres became arguably the first top player in the modern era to be sold unwillingly by the Anfield outfit. With him went some of the club’s long-held pride. Now Liverpool must cope with what so many of their opponents faced in the 1970s and 1980s: their biggest stars perceiving that there is a bigger club out there that they are dying to pay for.
Naturally, Chelsea are no strangers to the feeling. Nigel Spackman was lured to Anfield in February 1987, enjoyed success, and perhaps feels a stronger affinity now to the Reds than the Blues who plucked him from Bournemouth and built his reputation.
Perhaps it is a fear of status-loss that has prompted such a backlash from the northwest in the media. However, don’t expect any less of the Reds’ superiority complex to be on display in what is always (last season at Anfield excepted) a fiercely contested match.
Both teams arrive at this game on the back of three successive Barclays Premier League wins and big money acquisitions. All but one of the four arrivals is available to play this weekend.
Most eyes will be on the Double-winners’ British record signing Fernando Torres. In 84 appearances the Spaniard netted 50 times, a near 60% strike rate. His first official goal was, of course, against Chelsea at Anfield in 2007, the first of seven. Like most top clubs, the Blues had been tracking him long before that moment, and were first publicly linked with ‘El Niño’ (then 19) in summer 2003 – at £28m.
Now he is likely to square up to his former teammates on his debut. Chelsea must hope Andre Marriner has paid attention to all those suggestions from ex-Liverpool players that past colleagues will be out to ‘let him know he’s in a game’ at every opportunity.
Chelsea’s less celebrated but equally important new man is our latest Brazilian, David Luiz, from Benfica. He can play anywhere across the back four and even as a defensive midfielder, but is most comfortable as a Leboeuf- or Carvalho-style centre back.
Like those illustrious predecessors he is an assured passer and comfortable bringing the ball out of defence. Don’t be surprised to spot him in the opposition penalty area outside of set-play routines. He brings the number of Brazilian-born players to have worn Chelsea’s famous royal blue to seven.
Liverpool spent the money they received from Chelsea on two strikers: prolific Uruguayan Luis Suárez, who is fit, and netted on his midweek debut for the Reds against Stoke, and Andy Carroll who isn’t and therefore didn’t.
Fans of ‘Little Britain’ characters may well say ‘Yeah I know’, but once Carroll does start, Liverpool will have a strikeforce of Lu and Andy.
Carroll is, in fact, unlikely to be available for a few weeks yet and so will sit out this match as he did Newcastle’s 4-3 League Cup win in which he was an unused sub back in September
The so-called Dalglish effect has yet to reach all the parts others didn’t this season, and supporters are still voting with their feet. There were 41,614 at Anfield to watch Wolves win 1-0 on 29 December in the last knockings of Roy Hodgson’s depressed reign.
The return of the messiah has put 5,000 more on the gate compared to Hodgson’s last match against Bolton. Yet the two recent home games under Dalglish (Fulham, 40,466, and Stoke, 40,254) are, surprisingly, still 1,200 down on that Wolves turnout.
Post-Xmas cost-cutting explains some of this, but one might reasonably expect a rush of the curious to fill the stands as they used to, until the era of Hicks and Gillett.
The string of wins under the management of Anfield’s prodigal son comes after a poor first half of the season. That is why Liverpool are in the bottom three when it comes to away points gained, with only victory earned only at Bolton and Wolves, and draws at Birmingham and Wigan. The remaining eight have brought defeat.
Nor has the capital proved a happy hunting ground recently. The Reds have tasted victory once (at West Ham in September 2009) in the last campaign and this.
Chelsea are the only side in the top half of the table to have played two fewer games on home soil than away (11 compared to 13). Given the fortress nature of Stamford Bridge, perhaps the table is skewed in favour of Manchester United and Sunday’s visitors, both of whom have played 13 at home.
The champions are currently nine points ahead of the Scousers and have played one game fewer. Manchester City, who drew on Wednesday, are currently two points ahead of Carlo Ancelotti’s men but play their match on Saturday. They too have played a game more than Chelsea.
City, of course, would not figure in an all-time Premier League table, while the Blies would be third and Liverpool, who will pass 21 years without winning the title this May, occupy fourth. The top six presently reads like this:
1 Man Utd – 1548 points 2 Arsenal – 13603 Chelsea – 1311 4 Liverpool – 12595 Aston Villa – 10316 Tottenham – 996
Spurs maintained the pressure on fourth place by winning midweek and have not lost at home to Bolton since 2004. Arsenal face a Newcastle side now shorn of Carroll, who scored the winner at the Emirates earlier this season. Struggling Wolves have a decent home record against United.
Barclays Premier League fixturesSaturdayStoke v Sunderland 12.45pm – Sky SportsAston Villa v Fulham 3pmEverton v Blackpool 3pmMan City v West Brom 3pmNewcastle v Arsenal 3pmTottenham v Bolton 3pmWigan v Blackburn 3pmWolves v Man Utd 5.30pm – ESPNSundayWest Ham v Birmingham 1.30pm – Sky SportsChelsea v Liverpool 4pm – Sky Sports
Barclays Premier League race for the Golden BootDimitar Berbatov (Man Utd) 19Carlos Tevez (Man City) 15Andy Carroll (Newcastle) 11Darren Bent (Aston Villa) 10Kevin Nolan (Newcastle) 10Didier Drogba 9Florent Malouda 9Fernando Torres 9Tim Cahill (Everton) 9Johan Elmander (Bolton) 9Samir Nasri (Arsenal) 9Peter Odemwingie (West Brom) 9Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham) 9
Barclays Premier League race for the Golden Glove (clean sheets) Petr Cech 11Joe Hart (Man City) 11Edwin van der Sar (Man Utd) 10Pepe Reina (Liverpool) 9Ben Foster (Birmingham) 6Simon Mignolet (Sunderland) 6
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See the pre-match press conference via a live video stream direct from Cobham to your computer. Starts approximately 1.30pm Friday.
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