How Chelsea and Liverpool could line-up

7:30am on Sunday 20th September 2020
By Martin Macdonald

It is only the second round of Premier League fixtures this weekend, but we already have a titanic clash on Sunday as Chelsea take on reigning champions Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.

In the last match between the two teams, Jurgen Klopp and Frank Lampard clashed verbally on the touchline so this one already has a bit of extra spice.

Chelsea have been the busiest big team in Europe this summer, spending in excess of £200m on Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva, and Kai Havertz.

With regards to transfer activity, it took Liverpool a little while to warm up to conducting business as prior to this week they had only signed backup left-back Konstantinos Tsimikas.

However, they have burst into life within the past few days with the signing of Thiago from Bayern and the soon-to-be-confirmed signing of Diogo Jota from Wolves.

Chelsea's new-look team is yet to take shake as Hakim Ziyech and Ben Chilwell are still injured, while Thiago Silva is not match fit. Christian Pulisic is still recovering from a hamstring problem, but Lampard has received positive news over the past few days that Timo Werner will be fit after suffering a dead leg against Brighton.

Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, may feel it is a bit premature to fire Thiago into the starting XI with his transfer only confirmed on Friday. Expect a place on the bench for the Spaniard, but you never know.

Tsimikas, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Xherdan Shaqiri are all definite absentees.