Chelsea vs. Liverpool, Premier League: Team news; Preview; How to watch, stream

Chelsea and Liverpool's modern rivalry continues as strong as ever — slips and stamps all around — and now it gains the added wrinkle of Jurgen "The Normal One" Klopp jumping around the Reds' sideline and being the new darling of the English media.  In fairness, when you drop gems like this, it's hard not to like the guy.

Klopp on Mourinho: "I'm full of respect for his work. If you're not a journalist or a referee he can be a nice guy."

— Tony Barrett (@TonyBarretTimes) October 30, 2015

The two managers have met before, famously in fact, when Mourinho was still at Real Madrid and Klopp was leading Europe's hipster darlings Borussia Dortmund.  Drawn in the same group in the 2012-13 Champions League and then facing off in an epic semifinal, Mourinho won just the last of the four meetings, falling just short of pulling off the comeback from a 4-1 first leg deficit.

None of that will matter too much come Saturday high noon.  Liverpool are hardly BVB and Chelsea are a shadow of themselves, let alone getting to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Galacticos.  Nevertheless, this will be an epic, tense fight.  Blue vs. Red.  Costa vs. Skrtel.  Special vs. Normal.  Headlines vs. Hype.  Round many.

Date / Time: Saturday, October 31, 2015; 12:45 GMT; 8:45am EDT; 6:15pm IST

Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6

Referee: Mark Clattenburg — people love to hate on Mark "I'm the star of the show" Clattenburg, but the (sad?) truth is, he's perhaps the best referee (i.e. stronger, more consistent than the rest) working in England at the moment.  In good omens, Clattenburg was the referee for one of our rare wins this season (WBA, away) and we've won six and drawn one of his last seven matches refereed.  In bad omens, the last loss with him was almost exactly three years ago, in a home tie against Manchester United, which was the beginning of the end for Roberto Di Matteo.

Forecast: Cloudy morning giving way to afternoon sunshine and mild temperatures.  Let the sunshine in.

On TV: BT Sport 1 (UK); NBCSN, Telemundo (USA); Star Sports 4 / HD 4 (India); elsewhere

Online: BT Sport (UK); NBC Sports Live Extra, NBC Deportes En Vivo Extra (USA); Star Sports (India); Chelsea TV (radio int'l)

Chelsea team news: Thibaut Courtois and Branislav Ivanovic remain out for at least another month and at least another week, respectively, while Pedro and Diego Costa are in the matchday squad but face late fitness tests ahead of kick-off.  That said, Costa's absence would be very surprising.

I don't think we need too much reminding of Chelsea's poor results.  The underlying play and process has improved a bit of late, but it sure would be nice if all that actually translated to a win or two or many.

Liverpool team news: The visitors are unbeaten in 10 straight, but they've drawn a rather ridiculous number of those games (7).  Klopp finally won his first game midweek, a 1-0 win over AFC Bournemouth in the League Cup.  They played the day after Chelsea, so for once, the minor advantage of having the more rested team is possibly on our side.

The biggest question for Liverpool is up top, with Daniel Sturridge once again hurt, Danny Ings lost for the season, and Christian Benteke hoping to recover from a minor knee injury.  Big summer signing Roberto Firmino finally looked like the quality player he was in the Bundesliga against Bournemouth, but young Divock Origi has not quite lived up to his promise yet.  For more on what to expect from the Reds, be sure to check out Rob's excellent opposition analysis.

Despite Chelsea's struggles, were we to win this game, we would jump above Liverpool in the Premier League standings.

View from the enemy: The Liverpool Offside

HALLOWEEN HYPE: