Helter-skelter Fixture on the Cards When Chelsea host Liverpool

Liverpool, at least, will know how Chelsea players feel - and may know how to match them at Stamford Bridge on Friday as a consequence.  

Before the 2016/17 campaign began, Gary Cahill described Antonio Conte’s fitness programme as “one of the toughest pre-seasons I’ve done”. That is not surprising, given some of the stories that have come out about the gruelling nature of the Italian’s running drills, but it may not be the toughest in the league. Liverpool players would dispute that, having endured triple sessions during the summer. There are stories that some players were so exhausted that they slept in hotel rooms in between those sessions rather than go home. 

The point of all this - in so many ways - is that it could well set up one of the fastest and most intense games of the season on Friday night, and certainly looks to be setting up something of an evolution in Premier League football; potentially a next step in terms of dominant tactics. 

All of Conte, Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur have led the way in terms of high-intensity training, creating high-intensity teams. At their best, their sides have simply been too fast and too energetic for opposition teams. The managers created fitness levels that were at the root of Chelsea’s positive start to this season, Liverpool’s run to the 2016 Europa League final and Tottenham’s 2015/16 title challenge. 

A significant and symbolic match in all of this came at the height of the latter two surges, as Spurs drew 1-1 at Anfield, in what was an utterly relentless game. To almost sum up what it was all about, Klopp afterwards made such a point of telling the media that Tottenham “didn’t run more than us today”. 

It wasn’t just about how much either team ran, though. It was about how fast they ran so regularly. If the Premier League has always been famous - or, in some cases, infamous - for the helter-skelter nature of its play, this is all taking that to a new more coordinated and choreographed level. You could almost call it controlled chaos. 

It certainly felt like that watching Chelsea against Burnley and Swansea. Conte’s side on Sunday peppered Swansea’s goal with 28 shots, the most in a Premier League game this season, and at a level of intensity that often just felt like a blur of players having a powerful effort when they could. Amidst all of that, though, the Italian was often making calls that would be immediately followed by one of his attackers putting the ball exactly where he indicated, while others made specific darting runs. 

It is no surprise they have won the ball more times in the attacking third (19) than any other Premier League side this season. To properly apply that kind of industry and incision together and for so long, of course, you need the kind of fitness these managers specialise in. 

It is even less of a surprise that Liverpool are second behind Chelsea in terms of shots per game this season, at 18 compared to 19.8, but Chelsea are second to them as regards successful passes in the final third, with Liverpool playing 628 compared to Chelsea’s 597. The effect of that could be seen in the devastating 4-1 win over Leicester City, especially with Daniel Sturridge’s gloriously innovative close-range assist for Sadio Mane’s goal. 

This, in a way similar to Chelsea, was speed with a specific design. The hope is that it fosters a fearsome match at Stamford Bridge on Friday, and it hardly seems likely that either side will back off or slow down. 

Klopp, by contrast, was playing it all up. “They've seen us playing and they know we are not easy to play and that is what I thought most about in the last two days and what I will think about because there is always a way to create moments which you are not expecting. The problem is they maybe have the same plan.” 

They have some of the same principles. It could lead to a meeting like no other.

Who do you think will come out on top when Chelsea host Liverpool on Friday night? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below