Confirmed Chelsea XI vs Liverpool as £45m star starts first league game in 126 days

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has handed Ben Chilwell his first league start since returning from a hamstring injury.

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has handed Ben Chilwell his first league start of the year, 126 days after he picked up a hamstring injury against Brighton in the Carabao Cup last year. The England defender will captain the Blues at Anfield tonight. 

They have however travelled to Anfield without defender Levi Colwill who has been ruled out by a minor injury sustained whilst warming up before Friday's FA Cup game against Aston Villa. He joins the likes of Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah and Marc Cucurella who will sit this one out. 

Christopher Nkunku and Malo Gusto are back in contention tonight, while Nicolas Jackson hasn't been able to get back in time for the game after having to travel to Dakar before returning to London following Senegal's round of 16 exit at the AFCON.

Chelsea and Liverpool have drawn their last seven meetings, and they will both meet again for the  League Cup final next month at Wembley, but a win tonight for the Blues will lift their confidence going into season-defining games. 

Liverpool are without Mohamed Salah, Kostas Tsimikas, Joel Matip, Stefan Bajcetic and Wataru Endo. Jurgen Klopp's side are a different team without their Egyptian striker who is battling a back injury he picked up from the AFCON, so it will be interesting to see the mindset with which Chelsea approach this one. 

Pochettino's only win in 12 league and cup matches as a manager against Jurgen Klopp was Tottenham's 4-1 victory versus Liverpool at Wembley on 22 October 2017 so with that in mind, here is the team he's put out.