The Premier League resumes this weekend after the completion of the international break, and Liverpool vs. Chelsea stands out as the glamour fixture of Matchday 8.
Both sides find themselves in the top four after good starts to their respective campaigns, with Liverpool topping the standings while Chelsea are fourth. The Blues' success out of the gate is a mild surprise given how their last two seasons have gone, although they did end 2023-24 strong and appear to have kept the momentum going in the new campaign despite a change in managers over the summer.
However, former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar "Didi" Hamann doesn't believe Chelsea are on the level of his former side as of yet, although he does concede that the West London club are trending in the right direction.
Regardless, Hamann is still backing the Reds to claim victory in Sunday's match and remain atop the table.
"We will have to wait and see with Chelsea," Hamann told wettbasis.com. "They have a very, very large squad. They seem to have managed to slowly get a shallow plant to grow, but it is still very early days for them.
"So I definitely think that Liverpool can pull it off at the weekend."
As for Liverpool's longer term outlook, Hamann believes the upcoming stretch of games are hugely important for the club and could go a long way towards determining their success this season.
"They started the season very well in Liverpool, are making a very good impression under the new coach and have now of course played against teams from below, the real tough guys are coming now," he said.
"In the next six games, Chelsea are involved, Manchester City are involved, Leverkusen and Leipzig are involved. So the next six games will be decisive in the league, and also in the Champions League.
"But so far, the coach has done wonderfully, very calmly, and they are playing very good football too. Apart from the Nottingham Forest game, which they lost, they have done wonderfully so far."
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