Liverpool are back on home soil this Saturday lunchtime, as Chelsea – who haven’t won in their last six Premier League games – travel to Anfield in an intriguing Premier League clash.
Of course, with how this season has played out, Arne Slot‘s men know all too well the bruising feeling of not being able to buy a win, but the expectation will be that the reigning Premier League champions get back to winning ways after stumbling to a 3-2 defeat against Manchester United.
Interim head coach Calum McFarlane finds himself under immediate pressure as he prepares his Chelsea squad for their next outing. He will be demanding a definitive response and a marked improvement in discipline from a Blues side that looked alarmingly fragile in their previous fixture.
The atmosphere at Stamford Bridge turned sour during their last performance, where the team suffered a demoralising 3-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest.
Despite the advantage of playing in West London, Chelsea’s structural integrity completely collapsed under pressure, allowing Forest to capitalise on defensive lapses and walk away with all three points.
For McFarlane, the priority now is to plug those gaps and restore a sense of resilience to a side that appeared to lose its way the moment things went south against the Tricky Trees.
Liverpool + Chelsea’s disastrous weekend results:
| Team | Match | Final result |
| Liverpool | vs Manchester United (Old Trafford) | 3-2 L |
| Chelsea | vs Nottingham Forest (Stamford Bridge) | 3-1 L |
Liverpool will be hopeful they can breeze past the visitors from West London, with Champions League football even more secure in their grasp, if they can get the better of their sinking opponents, who have now slumped to ninth in the league standings.
The officiating crew for this weekend’s highly anticipated early kickoff has been confirmed, and a seasoned veteran will be taking charge at Anfield.
Who is the referee for Liverpool vs Chelsea
As per the official Premier League website, the main official tasked with overseeing the Reds’ return to Anfield after their sobering Old Trafford defeat is Craig Pawson.
Pawson has been the man in the middle for two separate Wembley finals that Liverpool have won in the past, with the Reds’ FA Cup triumph on penalties, over Chelsea, no less, in 2022, overseen by the Sheffield-born referee.
He has further taken charge of three Premier League games involving Slot and Co. this season, with the 47-year-old often a welcome sight for the Anfield masses.
Craig Pawson’s record against Liverpool
Amazingly, Pawson – across his refereeing career at the very top – has been the man in the middle for a hefty 45 clashes involving the Merseyside giants.
The Reds have won a substantial 30 of these clashes, as well, with only eight defeats coming their way, alongside seven draws.
Two of these defeats have occurred this season, however, and even more worryingly, both have taken place at Anfield, with Pawson refereeing Liverpool’s late 2-1 loss to Manchester City in February, and the Reds’ dire 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup last year.
Pawson would even send off Dominik Szoboszlai controversially, after Erling Haaland bagged a winner in stoppage time, with the red cards hopefully not coming back out again this weekend, when Chelsea come to town.
Craig Pawson’s record against Chelsea
Pawson has been the man in the middle 32 times when it comes to the West London outfit, with the Blues winning 19, drawing three, and losing ten matches along the way.
This season, the 47-year-old has taken charge of just one humbling game for Chelsea, namely the 3-0 defeat on the road at Brighton and Hove Albion in late April, which left Rosenior hanging onto his Blues employment by a thread.
Staggeringly, you have to go all the way back to August 2022 to the last time Pawson was a witness to a Blues away win as a referee, and amazingly, this win occurred on Merseyside, as Chelsea won 1-0 at Goodison Park against Liverpool’s arch nemesis, Everton.
Will this prove to be a good omen for MacFarlane and Co? Only time will tell…
Who are the assistant referees and VAR?
His assistant referees for the midday clash at Anfield will be Lee Betts and Matt Wilkes.
Additionally, the fourth official chosen for the game on Saturday is Bobby Madley.
To round off all the appointments, as Slot’s men do battle with an out-of-sorts Chelsea side, Tony Harrington will be the man tasked with manning VAR, alongside his VAR assistant, Eddie Smart.
