Liverpool host Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday.
They are rivals on and off the pitch, although Liverpool have been competing towards the upper end of the table over the last few seasons while Chelsea’s performances have tailed off.
Going into Sunday’s game, both teams are among the Premier League’s form teams. Liverpool are top of the table and Chelsea are in fourth after winning three of their last four league matches.
Both teams have new head coaches, Arne Slot and Enzo Maresca, and both look different to last season. So, who expected their good starts? What have the new managers changed? Is the football good? And who is likely to win on Sunday?
The Athletic’s experts Liam Twomey (Chelsea) and Andy Jones (Liverpool) sat down for a chat about the opening months and the upcoming game.
Has the impressive start to the season been a surprise?
Liam Twomey: The message coming out of Chelsea in early August was that results were unlikely to be brilliant immediately, but there was a high degree of confidence that Maresca’s work would begin to bear fruit as the season progressed. That thinking was influenced by an underwhelming pre-season, the demands of Maresca’s system and the knowledge that hosting Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on the opening weekend was a tough start.
With that in mind, Chelsea being in the top four after seven games feels a little ahead of schedule. They have been helped by Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur’s slow starts, Newcastle United’s inconsistency and Aston Villa adapting to the demands of Champions League football. Maresca and his players still deserve credit for exceeding initial expectations.
Cole Palmer celebrates during Chelsea’s win over Brighton (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Andy Jones: I don’t think Slot has mentioned Liverpool’s favourable start yet – oh, except for every chance he has had. On paper, with their supposedly easier fixtures and a settled squad another year older and wiser, it would be disappointing if they weren’t towards the top of the table.
There was a big change, though, in the dugout and Slot has conducted himself brilliantly since replacing Jurgen Klopp. They are big shoes to fill but Slot’s self-assured, calm demeanour has translated into an excellent start on the pitch. The players have bought in and adapted to his methods.
The Nottingham Forest defeat is the only blemish on Slot’s copybook and his side look like they have learnt lessons from that.
What have Slot and Maresca changed?
Twomey: Maresca has made some clever tweaks to his selection and tactics since Chelsea’s loss to City. He has been far less dogmatic than expected, allowing his talented players to build on their season under Mauricio Pochettino. Maresca has evolved, rather than overhauled, the team’s identity.
The most notable change is that Cole Palmer is no longer starting on the right flank, but in the right half-space as the most advanced member of Maresca’s midfield three and de facto ‘No 10’. It allows him to exert even greater influence on Chelsea’s attacking play and creates space in the team for Noni Madueke, who has seized his chance.
Maresca balances this by having one of his full-backs — most often Malo Gusto — ‘invert’ into central midfield alongside Moises Caicedo. Chelsea’s defending in this system remains a work in progress, but they are less immediately vulnerable in transition than under Pochettino.
Jones: There has been no swashbuckling tactical overhaul — that was one of the reasons Slot became the chosen candidate. Several of his principles were consistent with Klopp’s ideas: aggressive, attacking, flowing football in possession and high pressing and intensity without the ball. The building blocks were in place.
There have been tweaks in style and system. Klopp’s single-pivot 4-3-3 has become a more fluid double-pivot 4-2-3-1 and the direct, ‘organised chaos’ has moved to a more controlled, possession-based style.
Ryan Gravenberch, a revelation after an uninspiring first season on Merseyside, has been converted into a dominant No 6 (deep-lying midfielder) with Alexis Mac Allister deployed next to him and Dominik Szoboszlai as a No 10. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson are playing as orthodox full-backs, moving away from the inverted role Alexander-Arnold played for most of Klopp’s final 18 months. It has given Liverpool a more stable defensive base, giving them more control and, like Chelsea, making them less vulnerable to counter-attacks.
Ryan Gravenberch has been a standout under Slot (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Is the football good to watch?
Twomey: Many fans at Stamford Bridge were braced for the kind of slow, sterile possession that marked some of the worst moments under Maurizio Sarri, Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, but there has been very little of that.
Chelsea build from the back, trusting themselves to play around and through opposition pressure — sometimes too much for the stress levels of some supporters — but once they do so, attacks develop quickly. Palmer is always looking to create and score and Maresca’s wingers are empowered to take on their defenders in one-versus-one situations.
They do not always get it right but, at its best, it is fast, fluid and fun.
Jones: Liverpool are playing winning football, a good starting point. They have adapted from Klopp’s emotionally charged excitement to a more calm and deliberate way of doing things but remain an energetic, high-pressing team.
At their best, Klopp’s side moved away from the ‘gegenpressing’ chaos when winning the big trophies but, in recent seasons, jeopardy seemed to lurk the most corner. That has been reduced under Slot — they have the best defensive record in the league, conceding two goals — so games may not be as action-packed. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
In possession, Liverpool are a joy to watch in full flow. Attacking patterns are becoming more established and they have a side packed with technical footballers who can progress the ball through the thirds at will and have freedom to express themselves. They are far from perfect, which is exciting because there remains plenty to refine and improve.
Chelsea spent a lot while Liverpool did very little business — how has each head coach dealt with this?
Twomey: Maresca signalled early that he was prepared to be a willing frontman for Chelsea’s squad cull, insisting that he had decided that high earners such as Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell had no place in his plans.
He has also taken ownership of difficult selection decisions relating to last summer’s incomings. Pedro Neto and Joao Felix have taken backseats, with Madueke, Palmer and Jadon Sancho starting in front of them on merit. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s role has also been limited, having been a key player for Maresca at Leicester.
On the pitch, Maresca has tried to keep his rotation as consistent as possible between the Premier League and Conference League, and most of his trusted players were at Stamford Bridge last season.
Sancho has earned his starting place at Chelsea (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Jones: Slot spent pre-season talking up the players he inherited — a deep squad with established world-class talent complementing players in or entering their primes. The feeling was there was untapped potential. He was tasked with getting Ibrahima Konate, Dominik Szoboszlai and Darwin Nunez back to their top levels.
Throughout the window, he stressed the difficulty of finding available players who would improve his team and stayed calm. There was never any panic, even when their pursuit of Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi failed. Gravenberch has provided an internal solution but Slot evidently wanted more options at No 6.
They eventually completed deals, signing Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili — who will join in 2025 — as part of their longer-term succession planning, and Federico Chiesa to add a sixth senior attacker to his ranks. Slot wants a squad containing two quality options for each position. That depth is there, even if it might not be the exact squad he wanted.
What are relations like between the two clubs off the field?
Twomey: Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), was one of several models Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly studied when they acquired Chelsea in 2022. They have implemented one or two similar principles — notably, an aggressive investment in young talent — and executed them on a larger scale.
But there are far more points of difference in their outlooks, highlighted recently when Liverpool took the Premier League’s side while Chelsea acted as a witness for City in an acrimonious legal challenge to the league’s rules on associated party transactions.
Chelsea refused to allow Liverpool to beat them to the signing of Caicedo in the summer of 2023 and then outbid them for Romeo Lavia. Tensions have also risen at academy level, sparked in part by Rio Ngumoha’s decision to swap Cobham for Kirkby last summer, resulting in scouts being denied accreditation for youth games in the last month.
Jones: The approach and strategy of the two clubs could not be more different. Chelsea’s owners have been free-spending, stockpiling players and dishing out longer-than-usual long-term contracts. FSG has always been more frugal with its spending and aims to live within its means, a frustration among some areas of the fanbase in recent years with Liverpool falling just short of winning major honours on several occasions.
This year, Chelsea poached senior executive David Beeston, who had served as co-head of FSG’s sports marketing firm, Fenway Sports Management, appointing him managing director of Clearlake’s OPS group. That may have been amicable, it may not have been, but Beeston had been part of FSG’s infrastructure for over a decade.
What about the fans — is the old enmity that characterised games still there?
Twomey: Chelsea have one of the oldest cores of season ticket holders in the Premier League. All of them remember the toxic war of words between Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez and the tense Champions League battles between their teams that marked the modern peak of this old rivalry.
Many can cast their minds back even further to the 1980s when Liverpool’s visits to Stamford Bridge carried an edge despite the huge gulf between the clubs. Each fanbase relishes defining itself in opposition to the other and the arrival of Roman Abramovich made that task even easier: Liverpool the historic giants, Chelsea the modern powerhouse.
The current dynamic is more nuanced than that, but the same songs will be sung at Anfield on Sunday.
Sunday’s game is at Anfield (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Jones: Chelsea are still an enemy, there is still animosity between the fans, but it has diminished.
Manchester City replaced Chelsea as the fortunes of both sides headed in different directions. Under Klopp, Liverpool finished above Chelsea in his final seven seasons in charge, and there have been no dramatic European meetings either.
Three recent domestic cup finals — with Liverpool winning all three — have helped maintain the rivalry, but if Chelsea continue on their trajectory and Slot keeps his side challenging for major honours, we may see it return in full.
Are these fine starts sustainable?
Twomey: Chelsea were arguably the toughest team in the Premier League to project coming into the season and, seven games in, many questions remain. City were comfortable winners at Stamford Bridge on the opening weekend and while Maresca has improved things since then, only one of their four victories has come against a team in the top half of the table (Brighton).
The fixture list gets much harder from here. Liverpool at Anfield begins a run of four away games in the next five that also includes trips to St James’ Park (Carabao Cup) and Old Trafford (Premier League). Chelsea then host Arsenal in the league before the November international break. By then, we will have a much better idea of Maresca’s progress.
Jones: Can you ask me in a few weeks? The good start has risen expectations and Liverpool have put themselves in a position to be title challengers again. The poor end to last season makes it easy to forget that it was a three-horse race for most of last season.
The fixtures before the final international break of the year are laced with big challenges. Arsenal away, Aston Villa, Brighton and Manchester City (all home) are on the agenda in the league while balancing tough Champions League fixtures headlined by Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen. It will test Slot’s squad, fitness will be crucial — they have already lost Alisson to injury — and they need Gravenberch to retain his performance levels.
The signs have been very positive in attack and defence but questions remain until we have seen Liverpool face top opposition. We are about to get some answers.
Who should Liverpool watch out for on Sunday? And vice versa for Chelsea?
Twomey: Chelsea’s primary threat is no secret. Palmer might be the best attacker in the Premier League and his role in Maresca’s system puts him at centre stage. Palmer’s movement poses constant problems for opponents and he is brilliant at playing quick passes in behind a high line to release Madueke and Nicolas Jackson.
It is not quite ‘Cole Palmer FC‘, though. Chelsea have other threats, including Sancho from the left and much more attacking firepower to bring off their substitutes’ bench. That only makes Palmer more dangerous — opposition defenders cannot make him their sole focus.
Palmer has starred for Chelsea (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Jones: Moises Caicedo, who? Romeo Lavia, what? Step forward Ryan Gravenberch, who has become the No 6 Liverpool were searching for last summer. Eyes will be on the Netherlands international to see how he copes with the next big test of his deep-lying credentials. He has been passing them with flying colours but this looks like another step up.
He makes Liverpool tick, moving them up the pitch via line-breaking passes and ball-carrying prowess. His technical quality and graceful movement have made him a standout performer and his defensive work, which was the biggest question mark against him, has been equally impressive. If he passes another test, it could be vital to a potential victory.
What is your prediction for Sunday’s game?
Twomey: My only confident prediction is that both teams will score, so I should probably pick a score draw. 2-2.
Jones: Entertainment feels like a guarantee, so I agree with Liam. Despite waxing lyrical about Liverpool’s defence, both teams will score — but Liverpool will edge it 2-1.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
