Liverpool v Chelsea: which team has the greater midfield depth?

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Liverpool and Chelsea lock horns twice this week in what promises to be a pair of mouth-watering encounters.

The first clash takes place at Anfield in the League Cup on Wednesday night, before they take aim at each other once more at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Saturday.

Over the last decade-and-a-half, Chelsea have been a perennial success story for English football, bringing home trophy after trophy, even if they have cycled through a host of managers and star players to win them.

Liverpool, however, have often been the ‘nearly men’ of English football in the Premier League era. They’ve had success stories in the domestic cup competitions and who can forget Istanbul? But for every Istanbul, they’ve had a ‘Crystanbul’, for every League Cup win, they’ve had a runner-up finish in the Premier League.

However, this Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, look a little different.

Yes, Klopp has lost a succession of cup finals with the Reds, including last season’s Champions League final, but it has always been clear that the German has been building to something greater and, this season, that looks to be coming to fruition.

Liverpool have made a perfect start to their Premier League campaign, winning all six of their games so far and that is no small part down to the raft of reinforcements Klopp brought into the club over the summer and, chiefly, in the midfield department.

The likes of Naby Keita and Fabinho add great depth and quality to the Anfield engine room, whilst existing talents, such as James Milner and Jordan Henderson, are thriving all the more for it.

But it would be unfair to discredit Maurizio Sarri’s side in the face of this early Merseyside dominance. Chelsea have been near-perfect themselves, the only mark on the Blues’ copybook so far is their 0-0 draw away to West Ham United.

The Londoners’ early-season form can also be attributed to Sarri’s bolstering of the midfield department with pass-master Jorginho and World Cup runner-up Mateo Kovacic coming in to compliment the immensely talented N’Golo Kante and Ross Barkley, who is looking to get his career back on track after a tough time with injuries.

So, with that in mind, Squawka has taken an in-depth look at the central-midfield options for two of the Premier League’s leading lights so far.

Line-up no.1

Liverpool – Naby Keita, Jordan Henderson, James Milner

In this first Liverpool line-up, we see a mixture of experience, industry and raw power.

The critics have circled like Vultures around Jordan Henderson ever since he left Sunderland to join Liverpool in 2011. However, the 28-year-old is the Reds’ club captain and, since the start of last season, he has completed more passes (1,981) than any other player at the club, slowly but surely proving all of his doubters wrong.

Meanwhile, James Milner has enjoyed a brilliant start to the new campaign, combining all his usual, hard-working qualities with a fondness to break forward from the Liverpool midfield. The result has been a string of dynamic performances in which the 32-year-old has rolled back the years, scoring two goals and providing two assists already.

And, finally, the early signs suggest that Naby Keita will easily repay the £52.75million price-tag that Liverpool paid to Leipzig for him this summer, with the Guinean putting in a string of all-action performances so far, proving he is willing to create, work and tackle for the Anfield cause.

Chelsea – Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho, N’Golo Kante

Despite the undeniably strong performances of Liverpool’s midfield so far, you can’t help but gaze in wonder at the trio that has been turning out for Chelsea in the centre of the park this season.

Their trident of tactical talent contains Jorginho, who has completed by far the most passes (628) of any Premier League player this season, the towering Mateo Kovacic, who has already created six chances and completed nine tackles in his five lung-busting Premier League appearances so far and N’Golo Kante. The diminutive Frenchman is the perennial ‘nice guy’ of football and many people’s pick as the best midfielder in the world.

Individually, any one of these three could probably walk into most midfields in English football. Together, however, it is hard to imagine them being overpowered by any side, even Liverpool’s ‘heavy metal’ brand of football.

Line-up no.2

Liverpool – Adam Lallana, Fabinho, Georginio Wijnaldum

The fact that £43.7 million Fabinho has barely featured for Liverpool so far this season speaks real volumes about the performances of those entrusted ahead of him. However, the five-time Brazilian international will get his chance and, in this line-up, provides an unrelenting defensive wall at the base of the midfield.

Ahead of him, we see the box-to-box industry Georginio Wijnaldum offers, with the Dutch international looking equally happy creating chances on the edge of the opposition box as he is denying his adversaries that opportunity around his team’s own area.

And if you think this particular midfield lacked a true creative presence, think again. Adam Lallana provided eight Premier League goals and seven assists for the Reds in the 2016/17 campaign and if he had found his fitness sooner than he did last season, he would surely have gone to the World Cup with England. The 30-year-old is an accomplished ball-player and would provide ‘that’ Liverpool front three with ample bullets with which to fire.

Chelsea – Ross Barkley, Cesc Fabregas, Ruben Loftus-Cheek

This second Chelsea midfield contains a combined 141 international caps and a perfect blend of youthful exuberance and age-earned wisdom.

As the central pivot, the immensely experienced Cesc Fabregas, who has 111 career assists in the Premier League alone, can use his majestic passing qualities to turn Chelsea from defence to attack in an instant, while providing the English duo of Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek with a steady platform to allow them to cause damage in the final third.

Formerly of Everton, Barkley’s career to-date has been very stop-start but, since the arrival of Maurizio Sarri, the 24-year-old has been getting plenty of game time and his performances are getting steadily better as a result.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek has, so far, not had as much fortune as Barkley under Sarri but, with a string of promising performances for England at the World Cup – as well as rivalling Wilfried Zaha as Crystal Palace’s chief creator while on loan there last season – we know there is a hell of a player waiting to be unlocked.

Line-up no.3

Liverpool – Xherdan Shaqiri, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones

Due to the long-term injury of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, we had to be a little creative with this final Liverpool midfield triplet.

However, even without focusing on the sheer size of Xherdan Shaqiri’s thighs, this line-up definitely gives you a lot of legs. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s trajectory has just continued to soar since making his debut in 2016 and, although he has been predominantly deployed as a right-back, his calmness on the ball and delivery with it make him a more than capable holding midfielder – the 19-year-old has often spoken of a desire to move into the middle of the park himself.

Curtis Jones is still a very raw talent but has featured on the bench for Liverpool over the past 12 months, as well as playing in their pre-season games in the summer, and is a player that Jurgen Klopp himself has said he will be keeping a close eye on.

Finally, providing the experience to complement the youthful talents in this side, Xherdan Shaqiri would be the chief creator. The Swiss international admittedly provides great cover for Liverpool’s front three but, in their 3-0 demolition of Southampton on Saturday, he proved he can play behind the front three and was heavily involved in two of his side’s goals in an impressive first-half cameo.

Chelsea – Marcos Alonso, Ethan Ampadu, Danny Drinkwater

Not many sides can boast the fact they have a Premier League winner and a Welsh international as arguably their seventh and eight choice central midfielders.

However, in Danny Drinkwater and young Ethan Ampadu, that is exactly what Chelsea have.

Drinkwater’s role in Leicester City’s 2015-16 has never been understated and was part of the reason he earned his move to Stamford Bridge in the first place. The 28-year-old has only managed 23 appearances in all competitions for the Blues since the start of last season but is an expert long-passer and also excels in breaking up play.

Alongside Drinkwater, Marcos Alonso can be converted from left-back to central midfield. The Spaniard has developed into one of the most underrated players in the Premier League in recent years and, despite not being a natural central midfielder, the 27-year-old has already contributed two assists and completed 361 passes this season, more than N’Golo Kante (330) and Eden Hazard (304). Alonso’s tendency to drift inside to create overloads when moving forward from left-back shows that he is perfectly capable of stepping into this role, should the need ever arise.

Verdict

It’s tough to pick a winner between these two. They have both massively impressed in all competitions so far this season and both boast immense depth in the middle of the park.

However, based on the individually quality of each player – as well as how they are suited for the role they are carrying out – we feel that Chelsea just about edge it, even if it is by the smallest of margins.

The post Liverpool v Chelsea: which team has the greater midfield depth? appeared first on Squawka News.



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