Chelsea predictions vs. Liverpool: Optimism with a heavy dose of reality

Liverpool have a five-game unbeaten run to open the Premier League season. If any club will cause them to let it slip away, it’s Chelsea FC.

All eyes will be on Stamford Bridge today as Chelsea take their turn trying to prevent English football from enduring the unendurable 32 matchweeks from now. Our writers are hopeful, some even optimistic.

Gabe Henderson: Chelsea 3 – 2 Liverpool. I underestimated Chelsea in the Super Cup, but not this time. The Blues outplayed Liverpool last match, but were unlucky to not get a result in the end. This time will be different. Tammy Abraham is on another level and his goal tally will rise in this goal fest as he propels the Blues to a victory.

Scott Brant: 1 – 2. With the given injuries, i just can’t realistically pick Chelsea to win. The score line might worse, but I can barely predict a loss. Abraham is unstoppable at the moment, so he scores the Blues only goal as Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane score for Liverpool. I would never be so happy to be wrong as I would be if the Blues shock them.

Olaoluwa Nwobodo: 2 – 0. Chelsea have had a less than ideal start to the season. Liverpool have had a perfect one. If Chelsea play anything like how they played Liverpool in Istanbul, everything should be fine. Tammy Abraham with another brace.

Brendan McDonnell: Chelsea 3 – Drowning Pool 3. With each team coming off a painful loss, each squad is coming out with something to prove. Ultimately, this game is peak Heavy Metal Football. Jurgen Klopp wants the game to be wild and Frank Lampard hasn’t necessarily figured out how to keep a clean sheet. Lampard is basically Bizzaro Mourinho.

Abhishek Pancholi: 2 – 4. With the spate of injuries in defence, plus a missing N’Golo Kante, it is understandable why Chelsea still can’t keep a clean sheet. Liverpool’s forwards will have a field day against a makeshift Blues backline, taking the lead with an incisive move in the 10′. Before Frank Lampard realizes what just happened, Chelsea will fall two behind from nearly identical moves, involving the dreaded cutback from the wing into the box.

Thankfully, the home side will recover and land a couple of punches in the second half, bringing the scores level. But this is Liverpool, a side much further down the road in their development, and they will strike back with two more goals of their own before this helter-skelter game of football comes to an end.

Varun Dani: 3 – 2. The current Chelsea team is the most unpredictable one in recent memory: world beaters on their day, mid-table side on any other. The common trait, though, seems to be the fact that Chelsea cannot stop conceding.

After a year of defensive masterclasses, Liverpool’s defense is no longer impregnable either. Both teams are better in the offensive phase. Whichever front three turns up will win their team the game. Will this finally be the game in which Christian Pulisic steps up?

Nate Hofmann: 0 – 4. Why will Chelsea get blown out? Take your pick. Injuries? Defensive ineptitude? The fact that Liverpool is just really good? It could be any or all of those things.

There’s also the creeping narrative of Frank Lampard being unable to get his first win at Stamford Bridge. Oh, and Liverpool just watched their title rivals pump eight goals past Watford.  Also, they just got embarrassed by Napoli in the Champions League.

And… well, you get the picture. There’s an angry red meteor headed Chelsea’s way, and all we can do is hold on for dear life and pray we don’t go the way of the dinosaurs. It’s gonna be rough.

Kevin Peacock: 2 – 2. Frank Lampard knows how Liverpool FC operate. He probably knows them better than any other team he’s faced. He knows the intense rivalry that exists between the two sets of supporters goes beyond football. Never mind who plays, he will have made clear the significance of this game.

Liverpool are a good team, very good in fact. Jurgen Klopp is a motivational genius. His team will press high and attack fast. It could be a very good day for Liverpool and a poor one for Chelsea.

But I’m not going to predict a defeat because I believe Lampard will raise those players enough to get some kind of result. Of course, Liverpool will score. But if SFL gets it right so will Chelsea.