Chelsea host Liverpool at Stamford Bridge this Sunday for their first game of the 2023/24 Premier League. Both The Blues and Liverpool had underwhelming campaigns for the 2022/23 season, with Liverpool missing out on Champions League football and Chelsea denied European football at all.
The Blues had the season to forget with their worst finish in the Premier League since 1994, finishing in the bottom half of the table in 12th. Under the management of Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard, Chelsea could only manage 11 wins, 11 draws and 16 losses, leaving The Blues on just 44 points, closer to bottom-of-the-table Southampton than champions Manchester City.
Like January, Chelsea have been busy this summer transfer window. Christopher Nkunku, Axel Disasi, Nicolas Jackson, Lesley Ugochukwu and Robert Sanchez are amongst the most notable names to join The Blues this summer. However, their biggest signing was a new manager, Mauricio Pochettino.
Chelsea played five games in their preseason outing to the US, with three wins and two draws to their name. This included a dominant opening 5 - 0 win over Wrexham in the Florida Cup and a 1 - 1 draw with Borussia Dortmund outside of the Premier League Summer Series. Within the Series though, Chelsea managed a 4 - 3 win over Brighton, a 1 - 1 draw with Newcastle and a 2 - 0 win over Fulham.
Liverpool will be without Champions League football for the first time since their eighth-place finish in the 2015/16 season. A roller coaster of a season left Liverpool in fifth, condemning Jurgen Klopp’s side to the Europa League. Liverpool finished a shocking 22 points back from Man City with only 19 wins, ten draws, nine losses and 67 points.
On the other hand, Liverpool haven’t been as busy in the transfer window this summer. Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig and Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton both made the move to Anfield this summer for €70 million and €42 million respectively. Liverpool still have their eyes on Romeo Lavia from Southampton, but their bids are routinely rejected.
Liverpool also played five games this preseason, with Klopp’s side winning three times, drawing once and losing once. Their first outing this preseason finished in a 4 - 2 win over Karlsruher, followed by a 4 - 4 draw with Furth and a 4 - 0 win against Leicester. The one loss came against Bayern Munich, the German side winning 4 - 3, but in their final game, Liverpool beat Darmstadt 3 - 1.
Chelsea and Liverpool have a storied history, meeting an impressive 194 times professionally. Liverpool do have the advantage in the fixture, winning on 84 occasions, with Chelsea winning 65 times, and the remaining 45 games ending in a share of the points.
The last six meetings between the two have ended in a draw - excluding penalty shootouts - meaning that this weekend is likely to end in a similar manner. In fact, the last four draws have all been goalless, another likely outcome of this weekend’s clash.