Chelsea and Liverpool will kick off their participation in the Premier League this Sunday, in an uncomfortable match for both due to the weight of their debut, and which can be watched on Star+.
Perhaps they would have chosen other opponents to start a season. But the Blues, despite having spent hundreds of millions, are coming from a terrible season, finishing twelfth and without any international activity.
The Reds, on the other hand, did not have their best performance either, but with a final sprint, they finished fifth and secured a spot in the UEFA Europa League.
Now the story will be different. Chelsea hired Mauricio Pochettino to be Chelsea again, with the difficulty of not playing Champions League when it comes to signing players and several important departures, so they will have a quite renewed team where it will be more important to blend the pieces than the pieces themselves.
And Liverpool has a similar bet, with nuances. They keep Klopp as the coach and let go of several players such as Fabinho, Naby Keita, and Roberto Firmino, but they don't aim for radical changes. They know they have good raw material and they must exploit it better, so they only reinforced their midfield with two players: Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton and Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig.
From a statistical point of view, a very marked parity is expected. Their last six encounters have been draws, and the last four without goals. The last victory was claimed by the Blues in March 2021 by the minimum margin at Anfield.
Chelsea and Liverpool will face each other this Sunday at Stamford Bridge, in a debut they did not choose, but that invites them to demonstrate their intentions for this season.