Former Premier League star Mario Melchiot has claimed that Sunday’s match between Chelsea and Liverpool is ‘crucial’ in the two side’s attempts of catching Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola’s side are eight points clear at the moment and by the time Jurgen Klopp’s men travel to Stamford Bridge on January 2, City could be an incredible 11 points clear.
“One point is the difference between the two [Chelsea and Liverpool],” Melchiot told Sky Sports News.
“They’ve [Liverpool] got a game in hand, but away from that, if you don’t win that game, that game is so crucial because Liverpool are trying to get that connection through to Man City again, but Chelsea need those points because if Man City run away, then you don’t want that.
“You want to make sure that when I get the moment to play against them, I’m playing for something.
“You don’t want to play the game against City in a couple of weeks time and think this game has no value to it. I don’t think Chelsea want that.”
The game is a huge one for both teams – a draw does nothing much for either side but a victory for us somewhat keeps our title hopes alive.
We were poor against Leicester, but we need to pick ourselves up and show why we have every right to be involved in the title race.
Klopp will demand a response and our front-three need to be at their clinical best, unlike at the King Power on Tuesday.
Chelsea travel to the Etihad on January 15 so we need to pick up all three points against them on Sunday, and then hope they do us a favour and take points of City in two weeks.
It’s all ‘ifs, buts and maybes’ at the moment – we just need to focus on ourselves and get back to performing at our best.