Chelsea and Liverpool meet at Stamford Bridge on Saturday with the Reds hoping to bounce back from consecutive defeats.
In April 2014 the pair played out a huge match in the title race, which included a certain Liverpool captain’s slip on the way to a 2-0 Chelsea win.
That’s the match we’ve chosen for this week’s Saturday starting line-ups quiz.
How many players can you name? You have seven minutes. Good luck!
Joao Pedro hits a brace on debut against former club Fluminense to send Chelsea into FIFA Club World Cup 2025 final.
England’s Chelsea defeated Fluminense of Brazil 2-0 to reach the final of the FIFA 2025 Club World Cup, with Blues debutant Joao Pedro netting twice against his boyhood club.
The Brazilian forward, who was at Fluminense from age 10 until leaving for Watford in 2020, curled his new club in front at MetLife Stadium on Tuesday from the left side of the box in the 18th minute.
The 24-year-old, who joined the Londoners from Brighton for $81.5m last week, sealed the win in the drilled effort that went in off the underside of the bar early in the second half.
The Blues will face the winner of Real Madrid against Paris Saint-Germain, who play in the second semifinal on Wednesday.
Temperatures were soaring in New Jersey, which will stage next summer’s FIFA 2026 World Cup, ahead of the 3pm kickoff.
A crowd of 70,556, which was only 10-15 percent short of capacity, attended the game, despite the 34 degrees Celsius (93F) at kickoff, with humidity that made it feel like 40C (104F).
FIFA had, however, cut ticket prices from $473.90 to $13.40 last week.
It did not take long for the action on the field to reach similarly heated levels soon after Pedro’s opener, when Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah handled in his own area.
Video Referee Assistant (VAR) intervened, and the original awarding of the penalty was overturned. Fluminense were incensed, but Chalobah’s arm was in a natural position by his side.
Fluminense’s best opening came moments earlier, when Marc Cucurella was forced to clear Hercules’s shot off the line in the 27th minute.
Former Chelsea defender Tiago Silva, who appeared 113 times for Brazil, lined up against his former club since departing the London club last October.
The 40-year-old was far busier than his former teammates in their defensive lines, with his keeper, Fabio, drawn into a number of saves.
There was little the oldest player in the tournament, at 44, could do about either of Pedro’s strikes, the second a brilliant finish following a counterattack early in the 56th minute. Cole Palmer set the move in motion by dribbling past three players before laying off for Enzo Fernandez, who in turn laid on to Pedro.
Much like his first goal, where he took two steps to start to celebrate, then stopped and clasped his hands, Pedro showed respect to his former club by muting his response to both strikes.
Chelsea will now seek to secure a second FIFA Club World Cup, following their 2021 victory.
European teams will win their 12th straight Club World Cup title, and 17th in 18 tries, the lone exception a 2012 victory by Brazil’s Corinthians over Chelsea.
The London-based club has earned $88.4m to $103.8m for reaching the final, the amount depending on a participation fee FIFA has not disclosed.
Liam Delap was one of this summer’s most-wanted strikers.
The 22-year-old scored 12 goals in 37 Premier League games for Ipswich, with his tantalising £30m release clause attracting numerous suitors after the club was relegated back to the Championship.
He was given permission to speak to clubs in May, with Manchester United, Everton, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest all showing serious interest while Manchester City also held a buy-back option on their former player.
But it was Chelsea who won the race for his signature and, speaking before the Blues’ final Club World Cup group game against Es Tunis on Wednesday, Delap has revealed why – including the pull of Europe and rejoining some familiar faces.
“You never know if it is going to be the right decision but you’ve just got to go with your gut and hope it works out,” he said. “You’ve got to take your time. I took a few days to speak to people and decide my future.”
One of those people he consulted was Chelsea’s star attacker Cole Palmer, who he first played with at Manchester City at the age of 15.
Delap added: “I asked him what I needed to ask him, he told me what I needed to know. But I don’t like too much information. Ultimately it was my decision so I kind of just want my head to be clear.”
Palmer has become the poster boy for Chelsea after two sensational seasons and Delap was asked if he hopes to emulate his former academy team-mate.
“Yeah, of course, that’s the goal,” he said. “I think we both had similar positions and he’s gone and smashed it so hopefully I can also.”
Reports in May suggested Manchester United were front runners to sign Delap but their Europa League final defeat by Tottenham, and a poor league campaign, left them without European football next season – with Chelsea’s Champions League qualification playing a part in Delap’s decision.
“It wasn’t the be all and end all because I was also looking towards future seasons but also it helps,” he said.
The son of former Stoke City and Derby County midfielder Rory Delap launched his career at Manchester City under now-Chelsea manager Maresca. He scored 20 goals and won the PL2 player of the season – as he fired the Italian’s Under-21s squad to the title in 2020/21.
“I’ve got a good relationship with the manager,” he said of Maresca. “I know how he plays. I’ve played in this system before. It’s very similar now but with little tweaks. I know a lot of the players here and the project of the club, how they see the future. That’s what excited me.”
Maresca has previously revealed it was Delap’s decision to take the club’s so-called “cursed” number nine shirt.
When asked whether he believes in the curse, which counts Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Romelu Lukaku, Gonzalo Higuain, Alvaro Morata, Radamel Falcao and Fernando Torres among its supposed victims, Delap replied: “No, I’m not that type of person.
“It’s something that people talk about but it doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s something that’s related to strikers so I chose it.”
Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has been charged by the Football Association with breaching its anti-doping rules after he failed a drugs test.
The Ukraine international, 24, was provisionally suspended by the FA in December after an “adverse finding in a routine urine test”.
At the time he said he was in “complete shock” and he “never knowingly used any banned substances”.
He has not played for Chelsea since 28 November.
In a new statement on Wednesday, the FA said: “We can confirm that Mykhailo Mudryk has been charged with Anti-Doping Rule Violations alleging the presence and/or use of a prohibited substance, in terms of Regulations 3 and 4 of The FA’s Anti-Doping Regulations.
“As this is an ongoing case, we are not in a position to comment further at this time.”
Chelsea have not commented.
ARSENAL are considering a shock move to sign Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, according to reports.
Kepa, 30, spent this season on loan with Bournemouth, where he kept eight clean sheets in 31 Premier League appearances.
3
The Spanish shot-stopper is surplus to requirements at Chelsea, who signed him for £72million in 2018 – a record fee for a goalkeeper.
But his time with The Blues didn’t go to plan and Kepa has since been on loan with Bournemouth and Real Madrid, last playing for Chelsea in 2023.
It now looks like a permanent exit is on the cards after Sky Sports revealed that Arsenal are interested in signing Kepa to provide backup for David Raya.
Kepa is thought to be available for just £5MILLION thanks to a release clause in his contract that was agreed prior to his loan move to the Cherries last summer.
Should the Gunners convince Kepa to jump ship to North London, they would be securing his services for over 14 TIMES less than Chelsea payed for him at first.
Kepa’s current contract with Chelsea expires in 2026.
Bournemouth keeper Neto spent last season on loan with Arsenal, making just one appearance across the entire campaign.
Arsenal had been linked with a move to sign Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia this summer, but the La Liga gloveman now looks set for a move to Barcelona.
3
3
Join SUN CLUB for the Arsenal Files every Friday plus
in-depth coverage and exclusives from The Emirates
Mikel Arteta and his team are hoping to add depth in between the sticks, but are thought to still see David Raya as the number one.
Raya has won consecutive Golden Glove awards since his arrival from Brentford, forming the base of the Premier League’s most formidable defence this season.
For Arteta, the main focus will be on bringing in a centre-forward.
Arsenal are crying out for a front man this summer after injuries forced midfielder Mikel Merino to play up front for the latter stages of the campaign.
Reports have suggested that one of RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko or Sporting bagsman Viktor Gyokeres will come through the door at the Emirates in the coming months.
However, both deals are likely to be expensive and neither player is without suitors from other top clubs around Europe too.
Rotating and resting players in secondary cups is not a new phenomenon – but Chelsea took it to a new level in the Conference League this season.
They averaged 8.5 changes per European game, based on their previous Premier League line-up.
In the league stage there was a recognised Premier League team and a Conference League XI – with very little overlap. They were much changed in the domestic cups too, although fell at the second hurdle in both.
England forward Palmer, their star player, was not even registered in Europe until the knockout games.
As the Blues started playing in knockout games they started using more first-team players, like Palmer, Caicedo and Marc Cucurella.
But even through that they never made fewer than five changes from their last league game, including the final.
As the season ends, well, until next month’s Fifa Club World Cup, 18 Chelsea players featured in more Conference League than Premier League games this season.
That includes five players who left the club in January.
Midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who played all 15 European games, featured 13 times in the league.
Marc Guiu, whose six goals were two shy of the Conference League Golden Boot, has yet to start a league game.
However, the final saw a stronger XI, with only four outfield changes from the side that beat Nottingham Forest last Sunday to clinch a Champions League spot.
“Chelsea have got so much more money than anyone else competing in this competition,” said ex-Blues winger Pat Nevin on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“But they have respected the competition by saying, ‘we’re not going to put out the softest of teams but we’ll put out enough to make sure we’ll get through’.
“I have to say, looking back on it all now, Enzo Maresca has done a great job.”