Six successive days of Premier League action comes to an end at Anfield this evening as the 17th and final Double Gameweek 26 fixture takes place.
Liverpool v Chelsea gets underway at 20:15 GMT, as two defences in contrasting form meet on Merseyside.
The Reds kept only their second Premier League clean sheet of the calendar year in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Sheffield United, ending a run of seven straight blanks for Andrew Robertson (£7.2m).
Chelsea’s backline has been watertight in comparison, with five shut-outs arriving in the seven top-flight fixtures that Thomas Tuchel has overseen.
Antonio Rudiger (£4.6m) and Cesar Azpilicueta (£5.7m) have been a part of all of those clean sheets and both players start this evening.
The respective managers have made two changes apiece for tonight’s encounter.
Alisson (£5.9m) returns from compassionate leave for the hosts, replacing Adrian (£4.2m) between the posts.
The Reds’ faltering backline has been further boosted by the return to fitness of Fabinho (£5.4m), who takes Nat Phillips‘ (£4.0m) place at centre-half.
Diogo Jota (£6.6m), who would have made the matchday squad at Bramall Lane were it not for illness, is among the substitutes.
Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) will face his former employers once again as he looks to improve on a sub-par recent record of nine blanks in his last 12 matches.
As for Chelsea, Timo Werner (£9.2m) replaces Callum Hudson-Odoi (£5.7m) in the visitors’ attack.
Jorginho (£4.7m) is in for Mateo Kovacic (£5.3m) in the middle of the park, with Marcos Alonso (£5.7m) again only among the substitutes as Ben Chilwell (£5.8m) continues at left wing-back.
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Kabak, Robertson, Thiago, Wijnaldum, Jones, Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Chelsea: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, James, Kante, Jorginho, Chilwell, Ziyech, Mount, Werner.
3 years, 1 month agoBarnes to Mount anyone?