Chelsea vs Liverpool Odds: Hudson-Odoi in for a tough afternoon at the Bridge

Sunday evening at 16:30 live on Sky Sports, Chelsea welcome Liverpool to Stamford Bridge for a crucial game at the top of the table. Both sides dropped points last time out and have allowed league leaders Manchester City to open up a gap over themselves and the rest of the chasing pack.

An early goal for the return of Romelu Lukaku against Brighton in midweek seen Chelsea take the lead early, but were pegged back with a late equaliser from Danny Welbeck meaning more points dropped for Chelsea in the title race. Lukaku has been taking the headlines this week with comments over his former club, Inter Milan, claiming to be unhappy at the Bridge. It will be interesting to see if he makes the starting XI again here. 

A defeat to former Liverpool manager Brendan Rogers and his Leicester side put a dent in their title challeng. Only the second loss this season in all competitions for Jurgen Klopp, he will be looking to turn things around here and leave the capital with all three points, leapfrogging Chelsea into second if they can do so.

Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Mendy; Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Rudiger; Hudson-Odoi, Jorginho, Kante, Alonso; Mount, Havertz; Lukaku

Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Henderson, Fabinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Salah, Jota, Mane

The kind of selections I find myself backing quite often are passing bets and here it looks like this Henderson line is a touch too high. 

The Liverpool midfielder has been known to rack up the passes in some games this season, most notably 134 v Manchester United and more recently 123 v Newcastle. Lately with the return of Fabinho his numbers have decreased and he has only managed to land over this line twice in his last seven matches in all competitions (Newcastle 123 and Everton 66). He has actually gone under 50 passes in both the last two matches (both v Leicester), being subbed in the second half on both occasions. The closest comparable opposition is Manchester City, where Henderson only managed 45 passes, going way under this line. Chelsea will put up a solid fight for possession here, in a game both teams cannot afford to lose, If Henderson did go over this line, I expect it wont be by much.

The English winger has been used as a wing back a fair amount this season under Tuchel and he is down to play a similar role here against Liverpool.

Chelsea set up with the 3-4-3 formation, most likely with Hudson-Odoi filling the boots of Reece James after his injury that he picked up midweek against Brighton. Hudson-Odoi didn’t play as a full back this game but still managed to pick up a card for a cynical foul in the second half. He has now picked up a booking in two of his last three starts, making two fouls in both of those matches. If at right wing back on Sunday evening, he will be dealing with the pace and trickery of Sadio Mane making that 8/1 look very generous.