Second meets third in a tantalising opening to 2022 at Stamford Bridge, as title rivals Chelsea and Liverpool prepare for battle in the capital.
Thomas Tuchel's side were held to a 1-1 draw by Brighton & Hove Albion last time out, while the Reds were sunk by Leicester City in a 1-0 defeat.
Match preview
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Winter was certainly unforgiving to those in Blue, as a frustrated Thomas Tuchel bemoaned his side's growing absentee list after Brighton took a point home from Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.
Romelu Lukaku returned to the starting lineup with a bang as he headed in the opening goal after 28 minutes, but last-minute hero Danny Welbeck restored parity for the Seagulls in second-half injury time as Chelsea once again came up short at home.
The Blues have now fallen eight points behind runaway leaders Manchester City in the rankings, and even though the season has only just reached its midway point, Tuchel claimed that it would be "stupid" to think his depleted side are capable of competing for top-flight glory.
VAR comments aside as well, four of Chelsea's last five Premier League encounters at Stamford Bridge have now ended 1-1, and failing to keep a single home clean sheet in that run represents quite the downturn from Chelsea's formerly steadfast defence under Tuchel.
Despite the Blues boss' comments, it would be folly to write Chelsea out of the title race ahead of the New Year, and they were certainly done a favour by Leicester before the confidence-sapped Reds make the journey South.
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Before the first ball was kicked at the King Power, all the signs pointed towards a Liverpool victory. The Reds had enjoyed a six-day recovery period after dumping the Foxes out of the EFL Cup, while Brendan Rodgers was short of options 48 hours after that 6-3 loss to Manchester City.
However, Leicester dug deep to pick up a morale-boosting festive win in front of their own fans, as Ademola Lookman came off the bench to strike before the Foxes defence held firm to dampen the spirits on the red half of Merseyside.
Defeat at the King Power marked only Liverpool's second loss in the 2021-22 season across all competitions, and the third-placed Reds now find themselves nine points adrift of Man City having played a game fewer, and fourth-placed Arsenal are suddenly just six points behind.
Of course, Jurgen Klopp's crop will leapfrog the Blues back into the top two with victory in the capital, but they have failed to beat three London sides in Brentford, West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur away from home so far this season.
Neither Chelsea nor Liverpool tend to kick off the New Year on a high note either, but recent history is in the Reds' favour, as they have only lost two of their last 11 Premier League games against the Blues at Stamford Bridge.
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Team News
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Chelsea lost both Reece James and Andreas Christensen to thigh and back problems respectively in the draw with Brighton, while Ben Chilwell is now confirmed to be undergoing surgery on his ACL problem.
Thiago Silva faces a late fitness test while Ruben Loftus-Cheek is struggling with his ankle problem and the COVID-positive Timo Werner did not return to training before the Brighton draw.
Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr may be required to feature from the off in this depleted Chelsea side, and it would not be a surprise to see Kai Havertz provide some fresh legs up top - especially if Romelu Lukaku's recent interview will leave him on the naughty step.
As for Liverpool, Andy Robertson serves the third and final game of his suspension following his sending off against Tottenham, while Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita are available ahead of the imminent Africa Cup of Nations.
Takumi Minamino and Thiago Alcantara are still on the injury list after failing to shake off muscle injuries, while Nat Phillips, Adrian, Divock Origi and Harvey Elliott also remain absent.
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Mendy; Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Rudiger; Hudson-Odoi, Jorginho, Kante, Alonso; Ziyech, Mount; Havertz
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Henderson, Fabinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Salah, Jota, Mane
We say: Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool
The confidence levels in both camps are far from 100% right now, but the Blues' depleted and potentially youthful defence is sure to work in Liverpool's favour on Sunday.
The importance of securing all three points before Salah and Mane jet off to AFCON cannot be understated for the Reds, and we expect Klopp's side to earn the latest in a long line of positive results at Stamford Bridge to inflict more damage on their rivals' title chances.
Top tip
Ben Knapton
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Liverpool win with a probability of 40.79%. A win for Chelsea had a probability of 33.78% and a draw had a probability of 25.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Liverpool win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.24%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.75%) and 0-2 (6.72%). The likeliest Chelsea win was 1-0 (8.27%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.02%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 5.7% likelihood.
