When Brendan Rodgers fielded a weakened side against Real Madrid in their Champions League match, many were shocked to see the decision of the manager. But soon people realised that Rodgers gave his utmost priority to the Premier League clash against Chelsea and thus decided to rest his key players. This way he has brought an additional pressure on him to perform against the London side, but on the positive note he will be able to get all his players in fit condition. We make a predicted lineup of Liverpool’s side against Chelsea this weekend as Rodgers meets his former boss.
Defenders:
After the Real Madrid match, there were much talk about Kolo Toure’s performance and how he did not give Ronaldo any space. Seeing this it wont be surprising if Rodgers decide to field Toure in the centre of the defence, but so far it is unlikely and we should see the combination of Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren at the back. The two full backs of the side should also be unchanged as Javier Manquillo and Alberto Moreno have both impressed so far and there is no apparent reason to change them. There are reports that Liverpool are moving in for Ochoa of Malaga in January for their goalkeeping slot, but till then Simon Mignolet would be the number one for the side, however disappointing his performances be.
Midfield:
Rodgers does have a number of options in the midfield ahead of the Chelsea clash. Jordan Henderson did not take the field at all and Steven Gerrard only came on as a substitute against Real Madrid. Thus we may confidently say that these two will feature against Chelsea. Joe Allen has always been a favoured option of Rodgers since his move from Swanea a couple of seasons back. We would not be surprised of Allen takes the field in a deeper position as Rodgers understands the need of restricting the Chelsea midfielders like Matic, Hazard, Fabregas and Oscar.
Attack:
Mario Balotelli was rested against Real Madrid and so was Raheem Sterling. While Balotelli would be leading the line against Chelsea, Sterling will be the architect in chief like he has been so far this season. There will be competition among Coutinho and Lallana for the third spot in the team and going by the current trend we can say that Lallana should be preferred before the pint sized Brazilian in the starting eleven.
