Liverpool face Chelsea at Anfield on Saturday (12:30 BST), with both sides looking for a late-season lift.
Reds hope to avoid landmark defeat
Liverpool's place in next season's Champions League could be confirmed this weekend, which would bring some relief in what has been a difficult campaign, one that captain Virgil van Dijk says has been "very disappointing" and "unacceptable".
Last weekend's defeat at Manchester United meant Liverpool's old foes had done the double over the Reds for the first time in a decade. Liverpool finished 42 points clear of United last season but look set to finish behind them in 2025-26.
It also meant Arne Slot's side have suffered 18 defeats in all competitions this season, the most since they lost 19 in 2009-10. Another defeat would be only the fourth time that Liverpool have lost more than 18 games in a campaign since 1962.
But they do now have the chance to bounce back against another big rival in the shape of a woefully out-of-form Chelsea, who have won on just one of their last 10 Premier League visits to Anfield, a 1-0 victory in March 2021.
Arne Slot said recently that the summer represented the start of a new cycle and he has a lot of things to sort out.
They include how to bolster a defence that has conceded two or more goals in 16 different Premier League matches this season, their second-highest such figure.
Chelsea's goal search
Bar an upturn in form and a helping hand from Aston Villa, Chelsea's minimum pre-season target of Champions League football will be missed.
Any hope that FA Cup semi-final success would permeate into their league form was quashed with their lacklustre home defeat by Nottingham Forest on Monday, described by interim boss Calum McFarlane as "massively disappointing".
It's now six league defeats in a row for Chelsea – another at Liverpool means they will equal their worst-ever such run of seven in a row, set in 1952.
The problems have come at both ends. They have scored just once in their last six games – Joao Pedro's injury-time consolation against Forest – which ended a run of 565 minutes without a league goal.
The Brazilian striker is Chelsea's top scorer in all competitions with 20 goals but it is in the league where his 15 goals have been most vital, given the lack of contribution from most of his team-mates, bar Cole Palmer.
Joao Pedro has been directly involved in seven of the Blues' past nine league goals, scoring six and assisting one. He and Palmer have scored 10 of Chelsea's last 11 league goals, with the other coming from an own goal.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the pitch, Chelsea have conceded in each of their last 13 league games, letting in three goals in four of their past five.
The Blues need to arrest their alarming league form or they are in danger of suffering their worst league finish this century, which was when they were 12th in 2022-23, the first season under current owners BlueCo.
[BBC]
