Perversely we appear to do better when we and others write the team off.

Way too much optimism on here for a superstitious person like me.

We are playing the league champions, current champions of Europe, unbeaten at home and about to lift the trophy to a global audience of millions.

Of the top 10 teams we have leaked more goals than anybody else.

Liverpool should beat us comfortably.

But…you just never know!

 

Biggest game of the season. Everything hinges on this

21 minutes ago, Deino said:

Biggest game of the season. Everything hinges on this

Pretty much nothing hinges on this. Because of Leicester losing to spurs we can lose tonight and then everything hinges on the Wolves game. Hell if West Ham gets a result before we play then both games are meaningless.

Edited July 22, 20205 yr by Stim

Let's be honest.

If anyone told me before the start of the season that we would be in this position, I wouldn't believe it. Most of us would probably agree that reaching top 4 with this squad and Lampard as an inexperienced manager is a huge success. 

Fast forward to nearly a year later and here we are. Top 4 is close and we don't have to rely on results of other contenders. Nice. ?

Tonight I expect the same approach as it was against United. We have to be at our best in all areas of the pitch. Especially when defending against their wingers.

Mane is their most dangerous player at the moment. We need to pay special attention on him, not to let him go 1v1 with any of our defenders. Our midfield should help at all times. As for Salah, the key is not to let him cut inside near the box, on his preferred foot. He scored many goals by doing this. Lots of work to do for our full-backs.

I expect a tight one, Liverpool will be motivated since they are lifting the trophy after the game and definitely they don't want to lose. But when I look back, this season we played our best football against the best teams. That gives me hope we could win tonight.

Also, remember what happened last time when we were chasing a Champions League spot at Anfield? ??

Come on Chels! 

Edited July 22, 20205 yr by wizardous

A point is still very important, because if we lose to Wolves and United and Leicester draw, they won't go above us on goal difference. 

Just make sure we don't lose this game, give it everything. 

Edited July 22, 20205 yr by Slojo

8 minutes ago, Slojo said:

A point is still very important, because if we lose to Wolves and United and Leicester draw, they won't go above us on goal difference. 

Just make sure we don't lose this game, give it everything. 

Leicester would go above us due to goal difference if we had the same points. But in that case you're talking about we would be one point above them.

Edited July 22, 20205 yr by wizardous

We need to go all out for the win tonight, throw everything into it, treat it like the final, forget Wolves.

39 minutes ago, wizardous said:

Leicester would go above us due to goal difference if we had the same points. But in that case you're talking about we would be one point above them.

That's the point I'm making, if we lost both of our next games, and United and Leicester draw, Leicester would go above us on goal difference, if we get a point here, they don't. 

I'm just saying that a point isn't necessarily a terrible thing either, because I've seen people say a point is meaningless. 

Match day.....COME ON YOU BLUES !

Still so many permutations still available as to who finishes 3 and 4.  I think we just have to go for it tonight as we can't rely on Utd beating Leicester and hope that we beat Wolves who are fighting for a Euro spot.  Who knows, West Ham who are in a relegation fight might do us a favour and at least get a point today which leaves us in 4th if we can't get anything at Anfield, and then Saturday will be a nerve racking afternoon when we may have to beat Wolves. 

I expect Utd to win convincingly and leap frog us. Hopefully that will get transmitted to the players in BOTH dressing rooms at Anfield 

2 minutes ago, coco said:

I expect Utd to win convincingly and leap frog us. Hopefully that will get transmitted to the players in BOTH dressing rooms at Anfield 

I do expect Utd to win but Moyes will have a point to prove. Having now looked at the table even closer, if they lose their last two games and the teams below them win they will stay up on goal difference  ....shame really I would have been happy to see them relegated. 

 

The biggest question on the selection is whether Lampard will stick with the 3-4-3 or revert back to the 4-3-3, I personally think he will revert to 4-3-3 as I think he needs to play Pulisic against Liverpool and I can't see him drop Mount.

I think the team will be as follows:

                      Kepa

Reece- Rudiger- Zouma- Azpi

      Kova- Jorginho- Mount

     Willian- Giroud- Pulisic 

I am not one to challenge Super Frank's decisions, but I would like to see the same line-up as Sunday. Ok put in Kepa as the keeper, but keep that same line-up & make changes as players fatigue. After what I saw in the UEFA SuperCup, I think Chelsea can goto Anfield & get a dub. I know, I am just a myopic Chelsea that is dreaming.

3 hours ago, CFCCAN said:

Still so many permutations still available as to who finishes 3 and 4.  I think we just have to go for it tonight as we can't rely on Utd beating Leicester and hope that we beat Wolves who are fighting for a Euro spot.  Who knows, West Ham who are in a relegation fight might do us a favour and at least get a point today which leaves us in 4th if we can't get anything at Anfield, and then Saturday will be a nerve racking afternoon when we may have to beat Wolves. 

Agree with this though I think we will beat Wolves we are certainly capable of dropping points, we saw the freak head collisions Utd incurred against us on Sunday.

Nothing can be taken for granted. 

1 hour ago, Imran_CFC said:

The biggest question on the selection is whether Lampard will stick with the 3-4-3 or revert back to the 4-3-3, I personally think he will revert to 4-3-3 as I think he needs to play Pulisic against Liverpool and I can't see him drop Mount.

I think the team will be as follows:

                      Kepa

Reece- Rudiger- Zouma- Azpi

      Kova- Jorginho- Mount

     Willian- Giroud- Pulisic 

I'm nervous Frank gets caught up in the 3-4-3 that worked against Man U. Man U was a disaster defensively against us on Sunday. Won't be the case with Liverpool. Really hope he goes 4-3-3 and attacks them like the FA Cup. 

The scenarios for us getting CL tonight, 1# MU win and we win, 2# MU draw and we win, 3# MU lose

6 minutes ago, coco said:

The scenarios for us getting CL tonight, 1# MU win and we win, 2# MU draw and we win, 3# MU lose

If we both lose, and we then lose against Wolves, a draw between Utd and Leicester will see us drop to fifth on GD.

 

Let’s just smash Liverpool tonight and then we can put our feet up and have a beer.

I feel Frank is best under pressure. On the other hand we need to win it but it is not compulsory. Then again all our season is been is up and down. Which is it today?

I hope we play our best football and have some sort of luck. Pulisic double maybe...

I don't want to see us sit back. We need to go for a win.

I think the players will feel the same way.

In the words of Jose Mourinho " I DONT WANT TO SAY THIS A MUST WIN AND PUT UNNECESSARY PRESSURE ON MY PLAYERS BUT I WILL SAY THIS IS A  MUST NOT LOSE GAME"

Not thinking about all the possible outcomes and scenarios, would just settle for the same team and more importantly the players attitude as per the man u game, possibly change Willian out for Pulisic.

6 hours ago, Stim said:

Pretty much nothing hinges on this. Because of Leicester losing to spurs we can lose tonight and then everything hinges on the Wolves game. Hell if West Ham gets a result before we play then both games are meaningless.

That's just a weird mentality to me

Why would we hope for other results to go our way when we can grab the opportunity with our own hands? 

 

4 minutes ago, Deino said:

That's just a weird mentality to me

Why would we hope for other results to go our way when we can grab the opportunity with our own hands? 

 

I'd take that all day long.