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Liverpool know what must change vs 'embarrassing' Chelsea even after Gary Neville overstepped mark

-Credit: (Image: Nikki Dyer - LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
-Credit: (Image: Nikki Dyer - LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)


For the clubs who have the weight of evidence to claim themselves as part of the Premier League's elite, there are no more contrasting models than that of Liverpool and Chelsea's.

In the red corner is the beacon of continuity that is Anfield, where the low-spending, cautious approach ensures that every football decision is reached only after exhaustive and painstaking analysis.

In the blue corner, the spendthrift chaos of Stamford Bridge, where the overarching plan has brought a free-wheeling, carefree attitude towards recruitment that has resulted in dozens of players signed in a short space of time.

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During Jurgen Klopp's nine years of service at Anfield, Chelsea's first-team were presided over by no fewer than nine full-time bosses and two caretakers, while there was even time for Frank Lampard to have two cracks at it.

The last time a Liverpool manager was taking charge of his first match against Chelsea - as Arne Slot will do on Sunday afternoon - Klopp was just a fortnight into his career on Merseyside, in a 3-1 win over Jose Mourinho's side in October 2015.

The differences between the two clubs were never more apparent than the Carabao Cup final in February, when an expensively assembled collection of Chelsea players were seen off by an injury-hit Liverpool team that finished the game with as many as seven academy graduates on the pitch, three of whom were total novices in Jayden Danns, Bobby Clark and James McConnell.

"The billion-pound bottle-jobs!" was Gary Neville's memorably scathing takedown of the Londoners, who froze under the Wembley lights when the trophy was there to be grasped against a Reds side without 12 first-team players. It was difficult to argue at the time, even if the Manchester United legend himself later said he overstepped the mark.

It is the transfer market that highlights where these two clubs differ most though. Forty players have been added to the Chelsea ranks since Todd Boehly and the Clearlake Consortium, with whom the American is now reportedly at loggerheads with, arrived to take over from Roman Abramovich in May of 2022.

Most have been under the age of 23 and tied to long-term contracts, with the idea being that the best years of their careers will be spent at Stamford Bridge. So far, however, there have undoubtedly been more misses than sure-fire hits. The jury perhaps remains out on many, even if supporters will point towards an upturn in form since the turn of the year.

While Joao Felix's capture was the 40th signing of the Boehly era, Liverpool have conducted 40 transfers across 10 years, starting with Dejan Lovren's July 2014 arrival from Southampton.

"I mean, listen, that's embarrassing from Chelsea, isn't it?!" Jamie Carragher argued when informed of the volume of the Londoners' incomings on the Blood Red podcast in August. "Would you want that? Some fans would want that because they get all excited [saying] 'we've won the transfer window'. It's an absolute joke that someone has done so many transfers in such a short space of time."

New boss Enzo Maresca is the latest to be tasked with trying to knit together the questionable whims of the day at Stamford Bridge, but the former Leicester boss has started well.

Chelsea began the weekend in fourth, four points off leaders Liverpool and with an unbeaten away record intact ahead of their trip to Anfield.

Last January's visit was a chastening experience for those from the capital as Klopp's side turned in one of their finest all-round displays of the campaign to win 4-1 and while there is an argument to be made that Slot's team have yet to be truly tested, the very same accusation can be levelled at Maresca's, who are four behind the Reds after seven games.

The afternoon might also provide the Liverpool boss with a belated eye-opener to what the famous old venue and its patrons are capable of, given Anfield has yet to be white hot so far in less-than-high-profile clashes with Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth.

Slot spoke openly earlier this season about looking to engineer a considerable improvement in the club's away record from last time out, when they took 10 fewer points than eventual champions Manchester City, who finished nine clear of the Reds by the end.

Another area where Slot will look to see the numbers rise on Liverpool's behalf will be their record against the top six in recent times. Only Aston Villa and Chelsea at home were beaten last term by Klopp's side and the last three campaigns has seen them pick up an average of 1.53 points per game in meetings with fellow occupants of the top-six spots in the Premier League.

A win ratio of just 37% during that time leaves obvious room for improvement, also. Sunday provides the perfect opportunity to begin the alteration to those statistics and if the argument goes that neither side has 'yet to play anyone', one thing for certain is that such a narrative will be over by Sunday evening.