Liverpool-Chelsea combined XI
On paper, this might seem like a really one-sided affair, like you will realise after you are done with this article, but as the cliché goes, football is not played on paper – it is, instead, like Captain Obvious would claim, played on the green turf of grass.
And it is the actions of the players in those moments that integrate to form 90 minutes that will determine the outcome of the game.
So when Liverpool and Chelsea lock horns against each other this weekend, it is the collective effort of the players that will decide who takes home the bragging rights.
On paper though, Chelsea look far stronger than the Merseyside outfit. Indeed, if one was to make a combined XI of these two teams, it would be dominated by Chelsea players. Oh, hey, that’s precisely what I am going to do now and the formation I choose is 4-3-3.
Goalkeeper
Some people in this world love their lives too much and are afraid to die; I am not one of them. However, I don’t want to die with my body ripped apart due to wounds inflicted via objects – and that is precisely what could happen if I named Simon Mignolet here instead of Thibaut Courtois.
Grass is green, water is wet, sky is infinite... and Liverpool’s goalkeeper is... well... to put it respectfully, erratic. There are days when Mignolet becomes unbeatable but those days occur far more rarely than a day without Cristiano Ronaldo v/s Lionel Messi debates.
And then there is Thibaut Courtois. The former Atletico Madrid goalkeeper is one of the best in the business and is a mountain in front of the goal for Chelsea.
And he is the obvious choice for the shot-stopper here.