The Blues play at Anfield later today.
As the season draws to a close, it has been very clear for some time now that Liverpool are the best team in the country.
Their Premier League winning campaign has been nothing short of immense and they secured the title with seven games to spare, with a helping hand from Chelsea.
Jürgen Klopp has now managed to build a side that has won both the Champions League and the league title within just two seasons.
It therefore raises a question; can anyone catch them?
VAVEL looks into what Chelsea need to do in order to compete with Liverpool in the next few seasons.
Solidifying the defence
One of the key factors in Liverpool’s title win has been the presence of Virgil van Dijk in the heart of their defence.
He joined from Southampton in 2018 and within two seasons at the Reds, he is now arguably the best defender in the world.
In Chelsea’s case, they lack a player of his ability.
Frank Lampard has experimented with different defensive partnerships this season, with the likes of Kurt Zouma, Fikayo Tomori, Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen all looking to be regular starters for the Blues.
Despite all of these players being top players on their day, it has been clear to see that they lack consistency and if Chelsea really want to compete at the very top soon, then they need to resolve this problem.
The Blues have recently been linked with the likes of Declan Rice according to the Express, who could prove to be a solid addition for the west London club.
Champions League glory
It has been eight years since Chelsea won the Champions League in Munich and they have failed to reach another final since then.
On the other hand, Liverpool have featured in the last two finals of the competition and managed to win their 6th title last year.
The Blues are already one of the biggest teams in Europe and despite winning the Europa League twice in the last decade, they really need to progress further in the Champions League to cement their place at the top.
A win for Chelsea tonight would secure them a Champions League spot for next season, which is ‘massively important’ according to Lampard: “Trying to get in the Champions League has to be a huge aim for Chelsea, even with the way this year has gone.
“It would be a big achievement for the players”.
Attacking presence
Liverpool are lucky to have the qualities of Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino in their team, who score countless numbers of goals each season for the Reds.
Ahead of next season, Chelsea have already secured the services of Timo Werner to join Tammy Abraham, Olivier Giroud and Michy Batshuayi as Chelsea’s attackers.
As well as this, the arrival of Hakim Ziyech and potentially Kai Havertz will give Chelsea a very exciting attacking line in future seasons.
In order for them to improve and compete with Liverpool though, the need to ensure that they take their chances more often.
This season has seen Chelsea fail to win matches on many occasions as they have dominated games, but haven’t been able to secure the three points through a lack of confidence in front of goal.
If Chelsea can address all of these points and Lampard is able to build the squad he wants, then they certainly have the ability to compete with the likes of Liverpool in the future.
It is a time of change for Chelsea at the moment and if everything falls into place, then the Premier League title race could prove to be very interesting for seasons to come.
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