Premier League Game of the Week: Liverpool and Chelsea prepare for a vibes check

Liverpool and Chelsea began this season on opposite ends of the expectation spectrum. Liverpool, fresh off of Jurgen Klopp’s charmed reign and under the influence of celebrated Dutch coach Arne Slot, looked like a legitimate title contender. Chelsea, though? Chelsea looked like a mess. The club traded coach Mauricio Pochettino for Enzo Maresca — a swap that felt like a clear downgrade — and tore itself apart internally over things captain Enzo Fernandez said during the summer. If Liverpool was the king of Premier League vibes in August, Chelsea was a straight-up vibe vacuum. Things looked grim.

Two months later, though, and the positions have shifted. Both teams are out-performing expectations — Liverpool is first in the league and Chelsea is firmly in the Champions League race — but it’s Liverpool that is dealing with internal drama while Chelsea bounces from strength to strength. For Liverpool, that drama comes from longtime servants Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold, all of whose contracts expire soon and none of whom have re-signed with the club. It’s hard to know from the outside whether the players or the club are to blame for the delay, but it’s not hard to see that everyone involved is getting anxious about 2025.

Will Liverpool steady its proverbial ship, keep its players happy and maintain its grip on first place? Or will Chelsea continue its stellar season by scalping its Northern rival? Here are the bets we’re eyeing as the two prepare to meet on Matchday 8:

Result. This fixture was once famous for ending in a stalemate; the two teams drew on five consecutive occasions throughout 2022 and 2023. (The vast majority of those draws were scoreless, too.) Liverpool broke the streak in 2024, beating Chelsea 4-1 and 1-0 in quick succession, but the ghost of draws past still hangs over this fixture. We like the look of a draw at +310, but risk-averse bettors might want to consider a draw or Chelsea win at +120 instead.

Goalscorers. We’re big fans of Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson around these parts; his partner in crime Cole Palmer gets most of the plaudits, but Jackson has quietly become one of the most reliable forwards in the league. We’re backing him as an anytime goalscorer at +275.

On the Liverpool side, all eyes are on Trent Alexander-Arnold, and for good reason: he had a brilliant international break and may well be playing for a Real Madrid contract at this point. We like the look of him scoring or assisting at +162.

Shots on target. Liverpool’s Hungarian midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai is a tricky player to pin down. He’s known as an elegant ball mover with a great eye for forward progression, but he’s also got a rocket of a right foot, and Premier League opponents aren’t always ready for it. We’re backing him to make at least one shot on target at +137.