Chelsea - Liverpool: Combined XI

Goalkeeper: Petr Cech

Though Simon Mignolet has proven a largely reliable addition to Liverpool’s first team, Cech’s authoritative showings have just edged the Belgian’s so far this term.

A brief shaky spell at the star to the season prompted whispers of decline in some quarters, but subsequent form has proven these to be premature. Has generally been his steady self, and has needed to be behind a back four that is rather more pourours and changeable than Stamford Bridge has become used to over the last decade.

Right-Back: Glen Johnson

Johnson has been far from his athletic, penetrative best in recent weeks, but he remains a crucial member not just of Liverpool’s back four but of the entire side.

He comfort in carrying the ball forward is key to the success of Brendan Rodgers’ style of play – especially when Daniel Agger is absent from the defence – and his capacity to cut inside when he storms forward, as well as overlap, adds an unpredictable edge to his attacking play.

Centre-Back: John Terry

Enjoying a so what’s unforeseen Indian summer since Jose Mourinho’s return, Terry has been the most reliable of an oddly leaky Chelsea back line.

Ever-dominant in the air, deceptively classy on the ball and once again a genuine goal threat from set-pieces, Terry’s recent rejuvenation owes much to his manager’s reintroduction of the deeper-lying, more reactive style of defending of which Terry is one of the most masterful proponents.

Centre-Back: Martin Skrtel

Yet another player who was effectively written off only a few months ago, yet has gone on to be one of the season’s standout performers. Despite spending the summer reportedly being offered around the continent before losing his place to Kolo Toure for the opening two games of the campaign, Skrtel was reinstituted into the side for the victory over Manchester United on September 1st and has only missed 19 minutes of league football since.

While the form and fitness of Daniel Agger, Kolo Toure and Mamadou Sakho has fluctuated somewhat (though the latter looks better with each starting appearance), Skrtel has remained the lone constant in a back line (be it comprised of three, four or five men) whose make-up has been anything but. His brainless habit of wrestling, as opposed to marking, opponents at set-pieces seems as though it will be an eternal Achilles heel.

Left-Back: Cesar Azpilicueta

Having spent a good few weeks performing the unexpected feat of displacing Ashley Cole in Mourinho’s preferred line-up, this season could be said to have been something of a breakthrough one for a player who, only a few games in, was already being spoken of as a failed acquisition at Stamford Bridge.

He did undergo a similarly impressive spell last term, under the guidance of Rafa Benitez, but that was short-lived and whether he can keep such form up for a truly sustained period remains questionable. Nonetheless, Azpilicueta is quick, athletic and technically solid; the fact that he has both attempted and completed a greater amount of tackles than Cole this term is a telling statistic, while his aerial supremacy will always play well with Mourinho.