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Mohamed Salah. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Premier League game of the weekend: Best bets for Chelsea vs. Liverpool

By Alyssa Clang | Last updated 8/10/23

There are many reasons why we picked Chelsea vs. Liverpool as our Premier League game of the weekend, but none bigger or better than this: no one has any idea what’s going to happen with these guys.

At the start of last season, both Chelsea and Liverpool were in everyone’s top four. They weren’t expected to challenge Manchester City for the title, but they were expected to win, and often — Chelsea with its new-look American Moneyball know-how and Liverpool with another shot of Jurgen Klopp magic. Both were expected to make deep runs in the Champions League. Both failed, miserably, on all counts.

Chelsea wound up finishing in a frankly unbelievable 12^th after firing coach Graham Potter and hiring underwhelming former player Frank Lampard. It became better known for its bacchanalian spending sprees than its work on the field — Chelsea was, after all, the team that spent $120 million on Enzo Fernandez just to play him out of position, and $85 million on Mykhailo Mudryk just so Arsenal couldn’t have him. None of its expensive signings gelled on the field, and goals were incredibly hard to come by straight through the end of the season.

Liverpool, meanwhile, was not a Chelsea-level disaster — it was just there. And for a team that knows how to push everyone’s buttons, and the only team to successfully outplay Manchester City in the Pep Guardiola era, “just there” became its own brand of unforgivable. Young players like Stefan Bajcetic looked great in flashes, but established stars like Mo Salah failed to establish themselves in the league. Head-turning signing Darwin Nuñez, expected by many to challenge Erling Haaland as the league’s top scorer, couldn’t even crack the top 10.

Both teams improved massively over the summer. Chelsea hired Mauricio Pochettino, one of the most respected young coaches in the game, and he swiftly offloaded approximately 35,000 unnecessary players to refill the team’s coffers. Liverpool signed Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton and Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig to strength its attacking midfield. Both teams should be better in 2023-24. But how much better? And when will all those benefits start kicking in?

We can’t know for sure. But we'll find out on Sunday morning — and in the meantime, here’s what experience tells us will happen in this matchup.

Moneyline. Chelsea and Liverpool have an entirely unhelpful head-to-head record — they’re just about even on wins, losses and draws across their modern Premier League histories. Chelsea has the better record on opening day, but Liverpool has the better record at Stamford Bridge. It all balances out.

The last four meetings between these two have ended 0-0, and while both will be hoping to kickstart their Premier League journeys with a win, both will be completely, 100% happy with getting a single point. With those facts in mind, a draw at +240 is an interesting shout here.

Player to score. No one represents Liverpool quite like Mohamed Salah. And at +162 as an anytime goalscorer, he’s as sure a bet as any in this game. He’s scored in all six season openers for Liverpool in his career and will be hungry to keep that record alive.

Result / both teams to score. If we expect this to be a draw, and we expect Mo Salah to knock in a goal, then we expect a scored draw. Bet365 has that result set at +300 for this clash.

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