The ghost goal. Cole goal. 2-goal. Alex howitzer. Bosingwa kung-fu. The Bite (Part II). Gerrard backpass. Gerrard slip. Liverpool Torres. Chelsea Torres. Chelsea Glen Johnson. Liverpool Glen Johnson. Raul Meireles MRLSH. Yossi "the hobo" Benayoun. Studge grudge. Plastic flags. Hero of Istanbul. Chelsea Interim waiter. Mourinho protege. "Defending is easy."
Over the last decade or so, no Chelsea visit to Anfield has found itself short of story-lines. The intense cross-country, inter-city rivalry may have snoozed for just a little bit in recent years as both teams made a habit of underachieving in the Premier League, but it certainly burst back into life last season. And as Liverpool look to recover the already broken pieces of their current season and Chelsea go for the club record number of matches unbeaten to start a season, the fun times against the Reds are back in full effect once again.
Date / Time: Saturday, November 8, 2014, 12:45 GMT; 7:45am EST; 6:15pm IST
Venue: Anfield, Liverpool, England
Referee: Anthony Taylor - the Premier League's fourth youngest referee at 36, this will easily be the biggest Chelsea league game that Taylor's ever officiated. He did oversee our exits from both the 2012-13 and 2013-14 League Cups (0-2 home first leg loss to Swansea, and 2-1 away loss to Sunderland, respectively). In fact, we've only won two of the last six matches with him (and five of the nine all-time).
Forecast: Cold, breezy, rainy. Winter is here.
On TV: BT Sport 1 (UK); NBCSN, mun2 (USA); Star Sports 1/HD (India)
Online: BT Sport (UK); NBC Sports Live Extra, Telemundo En Vivo (USA); Star Sports (India)
Liverpool team news: News of great consequence is that unless Rodgers is pulling early-season Mourinho-Costa shenanigans, Daniel Sturridge will NOT play. That means more Mario Balotelli. Then again, Balotelli will eventually snap out of it, and for him and for Liverpool there will not come a better time to do so than Saturday. Alternatively, he'll just snap and moon the Kop.
News of basically no consequence include injuries to Mamadou Sakho, Jon Flanagan (the "Red Cafu," remember?), Jose Enrique, and Suso.
The increasingly under-pressure ex-Chelsea youth and reserves coach has claimed that he wasn't throwing in the towel midweek against Real Madrid by fielding a B team, but somehow I truly doubt he'll start this game, too, without Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson, Philippe Coutinho, and Steven Gerrard. In an ideal scenario for us none of that will matter anyway, as Rodgers's whole house of cards has been exposed and falling down rather spectacularly without Luis Suarez's human sacrifices to keep it up and steady.
With the core of the team fully rested and everybody else getting an extra 24 hours to recover when compared to Chelsea, Rodgers has given himself the best chance of winning. It's a smart move, to be sure, and one that he very much needs to see bear fruit. Liverpool have just two wins at home all season in the Premier League, and have just one win in their last five in all competitions.
View from the enemy: The Liverpool Offside
Chelsea team news: Everybody (including Costa, Remy, Azpilicueta, Mikel) is happy, healthy, shiny. At least on the surface. No suspensions, no major injuries, and only a few players woefully out of form.
I can't quite decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing that we can basically pick the lineup. It's wonderful to have 9+ positions locked down with top class players performing at a high level -- and the team's results and general play have probably benefited from that stability -- but as we've seen a bit of complacency starting to creep in, it could also be nice to shake things up a bit and ensure that players don't get too comfortable. Perhaps Ramires might provide an alternative midfield look instead of, say, Willian?
Previously: Yeah, yeah, Slippity Slippity Gee. Let's relive the bonkers 4-all draw from 2009 instead, even though that was at the Bridge. Overall, Chelsea have won 53 (including two in a row) and lost 79 of the previous 168 meetings (but just one of the last six).