ManagerXI

Happy to see that he played every league game so far. Top quality player with a huge work ethic. Fantastic signing and great to see him become a starting XI player after his 17 league appearances last season after arriving in January from Benfica.

I write previews for myself to focus my thought process so will share this here: Liverpool host league undefeated league leaders Chelsea at a bad time when they have won just 2 from their last 6 league games and have only managed 2 clean sheets in their opening 10 league games however they have not conceded more than 1 goal in their home games. First choice striker Daniel Sturridge remains out through injury and Liverpool are struggling to create clear cut chances against mid table teams now that Raheem Sterling is being isolated by the opposing teams defences. Chelsea are scoring an average of 2.6 goals per match and look unstoppable but while they have not kept a clean sheet away from home they have managed to keep things tight against the likes of both Manchester teams who both only scored once. As Chelsea won both meetings last season in the league it was no surprise to see Liverpool field a weakened team midweek against Real Madrid with this game in mind. Ballotelli is starting to improve but he is nowhere near the standard of player that Liverpool hoped they had bought and unlike last season Liverpool are making very slow starts in their matches with almost no positive activity in the first half while Chelsea have been winning 60% of the time at the interval. Chelsea dominated possession last weekend against QPR however they struggled to break down QPR's 5 man midfield who were set up extremely defensively but Liverpool will allow Hazard and Fabregas much more freedom where they can do damage against a weak defense who are prone to mistakes. I expect Chelsea to resort to their usual tactic of a defensive display with lightening fast counter attacks away from home and this Liverpool team have been exposed by this strategy this season against Swansea, West Brom and West Ham. Recommended Bet: Chelsea to win the first half 'draw no bet' - 1.65 Ladbrokes

I seen on MOTD that they were having a twitter survey to find out would you prefer to have Alexis Sanchez or Eden Hazard in your team with the implication that they were the two best midfielders in the league... For me Fabregas is the best in the league. Sure he does not have the all round action game of those two but he will do the simple things exceptionally well and put the ball on a plate for someone in the 6 yard box. The goal of the month highlights reel is fine to look at but its goals that win the league and Fab will get the job done against the smaller teams who defend with two close banks of 4 and they best way to break them down and get the first goal is with that killer pass that he provides. Once that is done they have to come out and try to attack and then Hazard can do his thing when he gets more space to make runs but the main man is Fabregas.