Can Liverpool prevent their season from unravelling any further when they host Chelsea at 8pm on BT Sport 1?

Though barely a month old 2017 has been a complete disaster for Jurgen Klopp and co., January littered with a series of ignominious results. A 2-2 draw against bottom of the table Sunderland kicked things off, followed by a goalless FA Cup 3rd round fixture at Plymouth Argyle and a 1st leg EFL Cup semi-final defeat in Southampton. Then, after leading since the 27th minute, Liverpool succumbed to a late equaliser against Manchester United in the league, before securing their one New Year highlight, a paltry 1-0 replay win at home to the Pilgrims.



It is in the last week things have really disintegrated, however. First they managed to lose 3-2 to Swansea, another side deep into the relegation battle, causing them to fall 10 points behind league leaders Chelsea. Then they crashed out of the EFL Cup thanks to another 1-0 win for the Saints, only to somehow produce an even more humiliating result in the form of a 2-1 FA Cup loss to Wolves. That makes it 3 home defeats for Liverpool on the trot; if they make it 4 on Tuesday it would be their worst Anfield run in a truly astonishing 94 years.

And the thing is, that outcome is pretty damn likely. In all competitions Chelsea have lost just twice in their last 19 games, winning the other 17. And while Liverpool are the league’s top scorers, the Blues are no slouches either, finding the back of the net 47 times to the Reds’ 51. The big difference is at the back, with Chelsea conceding 12 less league goals than their Tuesday opponents. And, unlike Liverpool, Antonio Conte’s side have breezed through the FA Cup, putting 4 past both Peterborough and Brentford (admittedly not the toughest teams to face, but still the kind of level that Klopp struggled to beat).

If Liverpool are going to get things back on track then they really need to cut out the sloppiness at the back AND get their amply options up front firing at full force. In regards to the latter point, Daniel Sturridge (who hasn’t made too much of an impact of late) is at a Super Mega PGM of 24-29, with Roberto Firmino at 18-22 and Divock Origi at 17-21. As for Chelsea, all they need is a trademark dose of Diego Costa brutishness; the Spaniard, who is the league’s joint top scorer with 15 goals, is at a Super Mega PGM of 25-30.

Despite their abysmal New Year form the idea of the Reds losing a 4th consecutive fixture at Anfield seems to be too much for our traders to comprehend, with Spreadex offering a tight Liverpool/Chelsea Goal Supremacy spread of 0-0.2 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.45-2.65 and a potentially fiery Bookings spread of 48-52.