How should Chelsea line up against Liverpool to not be the ‘clowns in their circus’?

It’s impossible to approach Sunday’s match at Anfield without constantly talking about the game almost exactly five years ago. The slip. The sweaty goal. The chest-beating run down the touchline. And all other sideshows and circus-shows and every other kind of show.

“They want us to be the clowns in the circus. The circus is here. Liverpool are to be champions,” Mourinho reportedly told his team in the pre-game meeting. A tactical masterclass, the Classic Mourinho Game that followed was almost a foregone conclusion.

Everybody assumed Liverpool would win then, just as they are assuming they will win now. But Chelsea have already won at Anfield this season (albeit in the League Cup) and were it not for a Danny Sturridge wondergoal, would’ve also won at Stamford Bridge.

So perhaps it’s not a foregone conclusion? Of course, one can never know which Chelsea will turn up. If it’s the same as Thursday, we don’t have a chance and it might be another 4-0 or 6-0 embarrassment. If it’s the same as last weekend, or better yet, in the games against Spurs or Manchester City (League Cup final), we might just pull off the surprise and be Liverpool’s fly in the ointment once again.

Choose wisely.

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