'Good opportunity' - Marc Cucurella makes Liverpool statement ahead of Premier League clash
In this story:
Marc Cucurella has had his say about Chelsea's upcoming Premier League bout against Liverpool on Saturday.
If there was any moment to beat Liverpool, for Chelsea, it would be this weekend.
The Reds, who lead the Premier League table, are still by far the favourites to win the league.
However, after their impressive start to the season with seven consecutive wins, including five in the Premier League, Arne Slot's men finally showed some cracks recently and suffered two losses in a row to Crystal Palace and Galatasaray.
Cucurella, while acknowledging Liverpool's superiority last season, said Chelsea are planning to extend the visitors' losing streak.
"We are ready to play these types of games," the Spain international told Chelsea's in-house media team after Tuesday's Champions League win over Benfica.
"For sure, I think Liverpool deserved to win the league last season. This season, they have started really strongly, but I think the last few games we have played against Liverpool have been a fight.
"We get to play at home, and we’ll be going for the three points because the last results in the Premier League have been a bit tough for us.
"We have a good opportunity to finish with a win before the international break."
As Cucurella insinuated, you want to head into the international break on a positive note since it could have a bigger effect on the team's morale than when you could just shift your attention to the next game.
That said, even after the win over Benfica and Liverpool's underwhelming form, it is hard to say that Chelsea are the favourites to win at the weekend.
The Blues only had two wins from the last six games, with three defeats in that period.
Red cards played a huge part in two of those losses, but the two victories were far from convincing, too.
Gerry Crisandy is a freelance writer who has covered Chelsea for many years. His work has been published on The Chelsea Chronicle and Pride of London. He grew up idolising Michael Ballack and is a firm believer in expected goals.