Liverpool guard of honour for champions Chelsea

Fifth-placed Reds will have to applaud their bitter rivals onto the Stamford Bridge pitch


Afp May 09, 2015
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, perhaps playing at the Bridge for the last time, will be clapping the side he could have joined almost 10 years ago. PHOTO: AFP

LONDON: Liverpool must reluctantly subject themselves to the after-glow of Chelsea’s Premier League title triumph on Sunday, forming a guard of honour for their bitter rivals, as they seek to keep their slim hopes of Champions League qualification alive.

A year ago, the teams were vying for the title and despite Chelsea puncturing Liverpool’s late-season momentum with a 2-0 win at Anfield, it was Brendan Rodgers’ side who finished higher in the table.

Now it is Chelsea who are champions, after last weekend’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, with Liverpool a huge 22 points behind them and in the unfortunate position of having to give their rivals a guard of honour.

Jose Mourinho may elect to rotate his squad, but he has set his players the target of finishing the campaign on 92 points by winning their last three games.

“We want to win our matches,” said Mourinho. “We have three difficult games. We don’t need to win, but we want to try to win points. For many months we had no defeats, but I can’t do anything. I can just enjoy the title, which is the most important thing.”

“We’re going into the game at the weekend looking to win,” said Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers. “Chelsea are obviously deserving champions. They’ve been the best team, but all we can do is control the last three games, look to win those and see where we end up. I’m purely focused on the game.

“I congratulated Mourinho. They’re the deserving champions and to win it with a few games to go is obviously pleasing for him. But it doesn’t take away from what we’re looking to do and we want to finish the season strongly.”

Rodgers will take encouragement from his side’s performance on their last visit to Stamford Bridge, when Chelsea needed an extra-time header from Branislav Ivanovic to secure victory in the League Cup semi-finals.

Black Cats skip out of relegation zone

Sunderland improved their chances of keeping their place in the Premier League after goals from Danny Graham and Jermain Defoe gave Dick Advocaat’s men a 2-0 win over Everton
at Goodison Park, taking them four places up from 18th to 14th in the league table.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10th, 2015.

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COMMENTS (1)

Hashir Ali | 8 years ago | Reply No doubt Steven Gerrard is one of the best footballer I ever see but Chelsea FC is my most favorite team. Why? becasue they have lot of talent, highest paid players, huge salaries, big names and specially good head coach. They play like team. Love Chelsea
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