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Attendance: 40,103
Chelsea logo
FA Cup | Fifth Round
Mar 3, 2020 at 7.45pm UK
 
Liverpool logo

2-0

Willian (13'), Barkley (64')
FT(HT: 1-0)

Combined XI: Chelsea vs. Liverpool

Ahead of Tuesday's FA Cup fifth-round tie between Chelsea and Liverpool, Sports Mole picks a combined XI from both squads.

Chelsea and Liverpool square off in the FA Cup fifth round on Tuesday night as both teams look to improve after poor performances at the weekend.

The Blues, on the back of a demoralising defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, required a double from Marcos Alonso to earn a 2-2 draw at relegation-threatened Bournemouth.

Later on Saturday, Liverpool's 44-match unbeaten run in the Premier League came to an end as they suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Watford at Vicarage Road.

While Frank Lampard and Jurgen Klopp are expected to make changes for the showdown at Stamford Bridge, both teams will be eager to progress further in the competition.

Here, Sports Mole selects a combined XI, using only the players who are expected to be available for the midweek clash.



Combined XI: CHE vs. LIV

Despite conceding five goals in his last two outings, Alisson Becker is the obvious choice between the sticks, with neither Willy Caballero nor Kepa Arrizabalaga finding any consistency for the Blues.

Although Reece James has enjoyed a solid period with Chelsea, Trent Alexander-Arnold gets the nod with us, and the England international is inevitably joined in defence by Liverpool teammate Virgil van Dijk.

However, with Joe Gomez potentially being on the sidelines on Tuesday, we are partnering Van Dijk with Kurt Zouma, despite the Frenchman having only been provided with two opportunities since January 25.

While Andrew Robertson would be most people's selection at left-back, the recent goalscoring form of Alonso cannot be ignored, and the Spaniard is preferred here having scored goals in his last three halves of Premier League football.

Regardless of Jordan Henderson's absence through injury, the rest of the starting lineup can only be made up of Liverpool players, with Fabinho taking on the holding-midfielder's role.

That would allow Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain and Georginho Wijnaldum to be involved further forward, rather than Mateo Kovacic being deployed in a two-man partnership with the Brazilian.

The only Chelsea attacker who may have been able to stake a claim for the front three is Tammy Abraham, but the Blues frontman is currently sidelined with an ankle problem.

That leaves Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino to feature in the final third, despite their rare off-day against the Hornets.

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