Mourinho to increase Anfield blues

[sake]

Chelsea are fancied to collect three points from their big clash with Liverpool on Saturday in the Premier League.

Liverpool v Chelsea (1245 GMT)

There will be plenty of fascination at Anfield as the Premier League weekend kicks off with Brendan Rodgers and his Liverpool side skating on very thin ice at the moment. Even the patience of the most ardent Reds fan must be near breaking point after a feeble effort against Newcastle last week and then mass changes for the trip to Real Madrid. Leaving out the likes of Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling in a bid to shake things into life a little worked to some extent but ultimately it was another defeat for Liverpool and the season is on the verge of falling apart before we are even within hailing distance of Christmas. Chelsea just about killed off Liverpool's chances for the Premier League title last April when the hosts were in much better form and Jose Mourinho's side are unbeaten in 15 games this season in all competitions. That run nearly came to a crashing halt at Maribor in midweek and Mourinho took the blame in some respect as he failed to convince his players how tough the game would be. With that in mind, I can't see anything bar a fully focused Blues as they try and extend their advantage at the top of the league as main rivals Manchester City shamble around currently. You get the impression Liverpool will be highly motivated for this, not only having something to prove because of their current form but also in a bid to exact some sort of revenge for that mishap last April. We were expecting to see a similar performance when Real Madrid were in town a fortnight ago but theye were steamrollered by a vastly superior team. Let's face it, Mourinho's Chelsea are not a million miles behind them and should leave Rodgers and company with yet more difficult questions to answer.