Kickoff from Anfield at 16:00 GMT, 11:00am EST.
Ways to watch:
Match televised live on Sky Sports 1 (HD) in the UK and Fox Soccer Channel (HD) in the US.
MyP2P.eu
Atdhe.net
ChannelSurfing.net
Liverpool:
Reina
Kelly Carragher Skrtel Konchesky
Lucas Meireles
Kuyt Gerrard Maxi
Torres
Bench: Hansen, Wilson, Spearing, Poulsen, Shelvey, Ngog, Jovanovic
Apparently Glen Johnson's recovery has been set back a bit, as he misses out completely. Maybe not completely shocking---I'm more surprised that Martin Kelly takes his place, just a few weeks after Roy Hodgson said it would be "unfair" if he had a place ahead of more seasoned squad members. Jamie Carragher's in the middle as expected, partnering with the other Martin.
In front of defense it's pretty much what we envisioned, with Lucas and Meireles carrying the load in central midfield, Dirk Kuyt making his return on the right side of midfield, Maxi on the left, and Gerrard and Torres up top. Like I said yesterday, I think this is Liverpool at their best right now, so I'm curious/petrified to see what happens.
Chelsea:
Cech
Ivanovic Terry Alex Cole
Ramires Mikel Zhirkov
Kalou Anelka Malouda
Bench: Drogba, Kakuta, Sturridge, Boswinga, McEachran, Ferreira, Turnbull
In the run-up:
Fun stuff to start the morning from John Henry:
The link heads to the Express' piece about the threat of offloading Steven Gerrard, with an "unnamed" NESV source confirming their steaming pile of bullshit. Sort of refreshing to see this sort of thing from Henry, but he's going to get tired pretty quickly if he plans on responding to every piece of unsourced media speculation during his time with the club, he won't be able to do much else.
Some interesting thoughts from Steven Gerrard on the new owners doing the rounds as well. Here from Sky Sports:
"This club will be here for many years so I think the right thing is to build for the future, bring young talent in, sort the scouting system out from top to bottom and, in my opinion, merge the Academy and Melwood, where the first team train.
"From a selfish point of view, I also want a short-term fix. I think the Americans have got the right ideas to build a platform for this club for many years to come but, of course, when I speak to them, I'm going to be wanting a quick fix. I've got four or five years left at this level and I want to win trophies before I finish, because that's what I go to work for."
I made no secret of the fact that last season I was largely disappointed with Gerrard. For most of the campaign he looked like he did against Bolton---disinterested and sloppy at times with a perma-frown cemented on that tiny forehead. But this season I'm feeling slightly differently, Bolton aside, and I've always got a soft spot for him when he talks about wanting to win something with Liverpool. Yeah, there's the fact that he almost went to Chelsea five years ago. But he didn't, and he's here, and I think it's too often that we forget about where the players fit in this ongoing mess.