Liverpool vs Chelsea prediction, odds and how to watch

Bradley Barcola scored three times as Liverpool ran riot in Linz, winning 6-3 in a Champions League match that told you everything about the gap between these two sides. LASK competed in patches but were picked apart every time Liverpool turned it on.

Chelsea host Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday lunchtime with both sides carrying form that raises more questions than answers. This is a fixture where the data tells you to be cautious, and your eyes probably agree.

Liverpool arrive at Selhurst Park on Sunday carrying a significant injury and suspension list. Crystal Palace will smell blood.

Sunderland host Chelsea on Sunday having conceded ten goals in their last five Premier League matches. The visitors arrive unpredictable, leaky, and dangerous in equal measure.

Florian Wirtz was dominant in Liverpool's Champions League rout of Lask but anonymous in defeat to Manchester City, a split that data confirms is a recurring pattern. With Rayan Cherki scoring the derby-defining goal City took instead, Liverpool's £116m bet is facing its toughest scrutiny yet.

Spanish radio speculation about Pedro Porro has snowballed into talk of a Trent Alexander-Arnold return to Liverpool, but the chain of claims behind it is far weaker than the headlines suggest, and Real Madrid insist they have no plans to sell him midseason.

Manchester City's first match since being found guilty on all 115 Premier League charges brought 'cheat' merchandise, drone-monitored security and a 3-0 defeat at Anfield, before the club breached a separate broadcasting rule hours later.

Liverpool's 3-0 defeat to Manchester City at Anfield was already slipping away before Ryan Gravenberch's second-half red card, with a hamstring injury to Dominik Szoboszlai and a porous midfield exposing deeper problems behind Andoni Iraola's post-match complaints about the referee.