Liverpool could react after brave Chelsea decision just hours before kick-off

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Chelsea made a brave decision this morning as they left Romelu Lukaku out of their squad to face Liverpool. Here’s how the Reds could react.

Chelsea will not play Romelu Lukaku vs Liverpool today, per the BBC. It’s certainly a brave decision, given they paid £97.5m for the Belgian in the summer to be their star centre-forward.

But it’s an understandable one and quite honestly, we wouldn’t want him playing for Liverpool if the roles were reversed. Lukaku gave an interview to Sky Italia this week where he essentially said he’d rather be playing for Inter.

“Physically I am fine but I am not happy with the situation at Chelsea,” he said. “Tuchel has chosen to play with another system.

“I won’t give up. I will be professional. I am not happy with the situation but I am professional and I can’t give up now.”

“Now it’s the right time to share my feelings,” Lukaku went on to say. “I have always said that I have Inter in my heart: I know I will return to Inter, I really hope so. I am in love with Italy, this is the right moment to talk and let people know what really happened”

The question now, then, is how will Liverpool react? Chelsea will be without one of the world’s best strikers at a time when they’re already pretty short on players.

Lukaku won’t face Liverpool

This is an interesting one, then. Lukaku hasn’t exactly been a regular starter for Chelsea this season but he does have three goals in his last four games. In fact, the only game in which he didn’t score over that period saw him play just three minutes.

So he is a threat right now and we do wonder if Liverpool planned to use Ibrahima Konate up against him. The Frenchman has been the go-to against physical players, with great performances against Manchester United and AC Milan. Zlatan Ibrahimovic even complimented Konate on how he dealt with him.

Now, we can’t imagine Liverpool would change their XI this late in the day. What we could see, however, is a change in the defensive line. Lukaku not starting means Chelsea will likely play with more pace upfront.

That could be a returning Timo Werner, though Thomas Tuchel isn’t sure about his fitness. Otherwise, we’d see the Blues with a False 9.

Liverpool will likely react by sitting a little deeper, then. Lukaku is a physical presence you want to keep far from the goal, whereas the likes of Werner or Christian Pulisic are far more threatening when you leave them space in behind.

We’ll likely see the Reds sit back a little as a result. Unfortunately, Chelsea will likely do the same as they try to secure their make-shift defence – this might not be an attacking game – and Liverpool can’t afford to be open on the counter.

Lukaku’s absence could be a game-changer. Let’s just hope Liverpool are the ones who benefit.