Chelsea

Alonso Aiming To Topple Chelsea

Xabi Alonso is hoping Liverpool can announce themselves as genuine contenders for the Premier League title when they visit Chelsea on Sunday

Liverpool travel to London this weekend with only goal difference separating them from their table-topping hosts, as both teams remain unbeaten eight games into the season.

Many pundits are still sceptical about the Reds’ title credentials. For the best part of two decades they have only occasionally threatened to challenge for a 19th English championship, and the gap between the Merseysiders and the so-called top two certainly hasn’t narrowed in recent years.

A victory at Stamford Bridge, however, would send Liverpool’s stock skyrocketing. Nobody has beaten Chelsea on their own turf in the Premier League since March 2004, so a win for Rafael Benitez’s men would turn heads across the country – especially as it would be their second significant scalp of the season.

A 2-1 triumph over arch-rivals Manchester United was the first hint of a shift in psyche at Anfield. After going a goal behind, the home side took charge of the game and secured a famous win thanks to Ryan Babel’s late strike in front of the Kop.

Alonso was a pivotal figure in that game, and he is hoping to put on a similarly dominant display in West London this weekend as Liverpool chase all three points.

“The United game was our first big test of the season, and beating them was very important for our confidence,” the Spanish midfielder said in the Daily Mail.

“Chelsea is going to be another one. They haven’t lost at home in the League for 86 games over four years, but our aim is to put an end to that and let everyone know what we are about.

“Being the first team to take three points at Stamford Bridge after all this time would send out an important statement as well as putting us in a great position at the top of the table. Winning there could spur us on for the rest of the season.”

The Chelsea-Liverpool rivallry has become one of the more intense in English football over the past few years – largely because of the pair’s European encounters, it must be admitted.

The two clubs have met three times in four years at the semi-final stage of the Champions League, the Reds winning the first two before the Blues hit back last season to book a place in Moscow.

But Alonso claimed that he and his team-mates are harbouring no thoughts of revenge, insisting that everyone at Anfield is focused solely on winning this weekend’s fixture.

“Chelsea have a new manager, and there are different players in both teams, so we can only look forward to Sunday, rather than think back to last April,” the Basque playmaker said.

“But we won’t be going there with any fear. We will go out expecting to win, just as we have in every game this season.”

Liverpool have established themselves as this season’s comeback kings, having claimed four of their six wins after going behind.

But Alonso believes the 18-time champions of England cannot afford to surrender the lead to Chelsea, pointing out that it is much more difficult to erase a defecit against Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side than against Manchester City or Wigan Athletic.

“What we cannot afford to do, though, is start as slowly as we have in some games,” the 26-year-old added. “That could prove costly, because the quality of Chelsea’s players means they can punish you at any moment.

“We have to be on top of our game for the full 90 minutes.”