In a more hopeful moment, I may be reminded of the tail end of the 2013-14 season.
We had just thrown away our chance at the title, were dealing with various injuries and suspensions, so we went to Anfield purely with the intent to ruin Liverpool’s hopes and dreams as well. José Mourinho played some mind games, rotated his squad (with a massive Champions League semifinal looming), gave a full debut to young Tomáš Kalas, and after Steven Gerrard’s legendary slip, “parked two buses” (to quote then Liverpool boss and ex-Chelsea-youth-coach-under-Mourinho, Brendan Rodgers) to see out a hilarious 2-0 win. There was José, dressed down to training gear to show how much he didn’t care, banging his chest to celebrate with the away end, setting up a dominant campaign to follow in 2014-15.
We have won just two of our league visits since.
So now we have a chance to make a slightly different sort of history. Monday’s loss against Nottingham Forest was Chelsea’s sixth consecutive league defeat. We have lost seven league games in a row just once in our history, way back in 1952.
But don’t worry, should that happen, that still might not be the bottom.
Date / Time: Saturday, May 9, 2026, 12.30 BST; 7:30am EDT; 5pm IST
Venue: Anfield, Liverpool
Referee: Craig Pawson (on pitch); Tony Harrington (VAR)
Forecast: chance of thunderstorms, but probably not from the Boys in Blue
On TV: TNT Sports 1 (UK); NBCSN (USA); Star Sports Select HD1 (India); SuperSport Premier League, Canal+ Sport 3 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: discovery+ (UK); Peacock (USA); JioHotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Liverpool team news: Liverpool’s title defense has not gone according to plan — especially after their record-breaking spending spree in the summer — and head coach Arne Slot may yet pay for that shortcoming with his job when all is said and done, though barring a spectacular collapse in the final three games, they will comfortably finish in the top-four/five and still be playing Champions League football next season.
The inability of the big new signings to make an impact, through injury or otherwise, has been a key factor in Liverpool’s season, though both Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz are in contention to play in this one. Third goalkeeper Freddie Woodman is expect to play however with Alison Becker and Giorgi Mamardashvili both injured, while Mohamad Salah remains out as well. Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley, and Wataru Endo are also out, dealing with various long-term injuries.
The Reds of course still have the talent to easily dispatch any challenger, but I remain hopeful that one day Dominik Szoboszlai will go to a team where I can freely root for him.
View from the enemy: The Liverpool Offside
Chelsea team news: As if things weren’t bad enough already, we’re down to a grand total of zero recognized wingers in the squad, with Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho both still dealing with knocks, Jesse Derry recovering from his scary head injury in the last game, and Jamie Gittens and Estêvão both dealing with longer-term injuries. Interim head coach Calum McFarlane should be well familiar with the options in the Academy, but it seems more likely that we’ll try to shoehorn the likes of Liam Delap into some sort of attacking shape instead. And if that doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what will!
Not that our wingers, even when healthy, were doing much. João Pedro’s (spectacular) consolation goal against Nottingham Forest broke a streak of 566 Premier League minutes without a goal, just barely preventing us from going six in a row without scoring. Of course, we’re still looking for our first points in the league in nearly two months and it’s certainly not out of the question that we will finish even lower than the 12th from a couple years ago.
Also missing in action will be goalkeeper Robert Sánchez, who’s also being monitored for a concussion after Monday’s game that left him (and Morgan Gibbs-White) with multiple stitches. Filip Jörgensen had returned just in time from his hand surgery to replace him then, and he will now likely start.
Somehow, we do still have a chance at a European spot as well however, and maybe even a Champions League spot depending on how Aston Villa do domestically and in the Europa League final, so as much as everyone seems to have checked out already, if we could find it within ourselves to actually give a [SHOE], we may yet find some measure of happiness at these depths.
Previously: The reverse fixture remains one of the very few high points of this wholly forsaken season, as young Steeeeevoooooh sent Stamford Bridge into absolute raptures in stoppage time. This sure feels like a lifetime ago.
