Matchweek 8 Preview: Are Liverpool or Chelsea Title Contenders?

Two teams flying high this season go head-to-head in this weekend’s big Premier League game as leaders Liverpool welcome in-form Chelsea to Anfield for a potentially mouth-watering encounter on Sunday.

The Reds have been in excellent form under new head coach Arne Slot, who is the first Liverpool boss to win as many as nine of his first 10 games in charge of the club in all competitions. However, our ranking system suggests they have had the easiest start of any Premier League team.

Chelsea, who have won four of their last six league outings after losing to Manchester City in their opening match, are sure to present an altogether tougher test.

Chelsea should arrive at Anfield in good spirits – these two are the only teams with a 100% away win rate in the Premier League this season (Liverpool 4/4, Chelsea 3/3). Only in 2005-06 (4) and 2008-09 (8) have Chelsea ever won their opening four away matches of a league season.

Maresca, meanwhile, is looking to become only the fifth boss to win each of his first four away Premier League games, with one of the previous four to do so being Slot (also Bobby Gould, John Gregory, and Luiz Felipe Scolari).

As ever, Chelsea will want to get on the ball, but they may be best served being patient and waiting for their moments to pounce on the break.

Key to that tactic could be Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke, who have created 15 chances for one another in the Premier League this season, the most of any duo.

Liverpool vs Chelsea Head-to-Head

Having lost three consecutive league games against Chelsea between 2013 and 2014, Liverpool have now lost just two of their last 19 against the Blues (7 wins, 10 draws).

Indeed, Liverpool are unbeaten in their last six Premier League meetings with Chelsea, though five of these have ended level (W1).

Chelsea have won just one of their last nine Premier League away games against Liverpool (D5 L3), and they went down 4-1 in the corresponding fixture last season.

That big win for the Reds came less than a month before the EFL Cup final, in which a depleted Liverpool side won 1-0 thanks to Van Dijk’s header deep into stoppage time, with Chelsea – then of course overseen by Mauricio Pochettino – passing up four ‘big chances’, defined by Opta as an opportunity from which a team would reasonably be expected to score.

PREDICTION: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE @1.45

SPANISH LALIGA

Athletic Bilbao vs Espanyol: HOME WIN @1.45

Girona vs Real Sociedad: UNDER 3.5 @1.22

Celta vs Real Madrid: 2 DNB @1.22

Atletico Madrid vs Leganes: HOME WIN @1.37

Barcelona vs Sevilla: HOME WIN @1.32

GERMAN BUNDESLIGA

Borussia Dortmund vs St. Pauli: HOME WIN @1.30

Mainz 05 vs RasenBallsport Leipzig: OVER 1.5 @1.20

Bayer 04 Leverkusen vs Eintracht Frankfurt: OVER 2.5 @1.36

Bayern Munich vs VfB Stuttgart: OVER 2.5 @1.30