Premier LeagueChelsea v Liverpool: Team news

The Reds have, of course, already secured the championship, with a 5-1 defeat of Tottenham Hotspur last weekend clinching the title with a month of the campaign still left to play.

A trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea on Sunday afternoon is the first assignment for Slot’s men since being confirmed as champions for 2024-25.

And at his pre-match press conference on Friday, the head coach explained the reasons why he will be rotating his starting XI more often in the coming weeks.

“We are going into these four games trying to win them all, of course,” he said. “That’s what we always want, that’s what every player that wears the Liverpool shirt should aim for: winning their game of football.

“I would judge us more on the amount of points we have now compared to teams that won it in the past four games before the end, because there’s definitely a difference if we now were still competing than the games we play now. Because my line-ups will be different towards the one we’ve had mostly during the last 10 months.

“We are not going to change everyone but there will be a few players that come into the team, there will be certain rotation in the upcoming games.

“That’s not to say we are going to lose them – we have a lot of trust in the players we are going to play now as well – but I think it would be more honest to judge us on the points total we have now compared to the ones that have won the league in the past where they still had to fight until the end.

“And I think if I’m correct that we are on the same amount of points as many other teams that won the league recently four games before the end.”

Asked if his selections between now and the end of the season will have planning for 2025-26 in mind, too, Slot replied: “This season as well, because I think some of them deserved to play already earlier this season because they have trained so well, they are good enough to play for this club.

“But I mainly chose the same players and I think this is also a moment to see where they are, also looking towards next season maybe a bit already. But definitely also because they deserve to play this season.”

Conor Bradley is likely to return to the champions’ squad for the 4.30pm BST kick-off in the capital, having missed the win over Spurs due to a minor fitness issue.

The No.84 was set to resume training with his teammates on Friday and Slot said of his condition: “We expect him to be available.

“I don’t know if that means that he is available to start, but if all goes well today [Friday] and tomorrow [Saturday] he will probably be in the squad, yeah.”

Chelsea have a swifter turnaround for the visit of the Reds having won 4-1 away at Swedish side Djurgarden in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League semi-final on Thursday night.

Providing the latest squad news for the Blues, head coach Enzo Maresca told the media: “At the moment, just Marc Guiu and [Aaron] Anselmino are out.

“Christo Nkunku has a small problem. When we get back to Cobham, the medical staff will tell me how he is and what his status is. He wasn’t with us in Sweden.

“It is exactly the same for Robert Sanchez too, although he is working on the pitch so compared to Christo he is [in] a better situation. He wasn’t with us in Sweden either and we will see and assess them both before Sunday.”

Maresca also confirmed his players will form a guard of honour before kick-off in recognition of Liverpool’s title success.

“It’s a tradition, it’s something you have to do, and we want to do,” he said. “They won the league, so they deserve that.”

Last match

Djurgarden 1-4 Chelsea (May 1): Jorgensen, Acheampong, Tosin, Badiashile, Cucurella, Fernandez, James, Madueke, Dewsbury-Hall, Sancho, George.

Liverpool 5-1 Tottenham (April 27): Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Szoboszlai, Gakpo, Diaz.