Robertson: It'll be tight again - but we want to put it right
Andy Robertson expects Liverpool's Premier League clash with Chelsea to be another evenly-matched encounter – but believes a more positive outcome can be achieved.
The sides locked horns in a keenly-fought Carabao Cup tie at Anfield on Wednesday night that the Reds led through Daniel Sturridge’s volley yet went on to lose as a result of a late double by the visitors.
Eden Hazard’s clinical lash beyond compatriot Simon Mignolet was ultimately what separated two teams who had not been beaten before the meeting on Merseyside.
While the personnel involved in the league rematch at Stamford Bridge today may change, Robertson anticipates another close game decided by fine margins.
“The only positive we can take [from midweek] is that we play them so soon after and we can try to put it right. It’s a completely different game,” the left-back told Liverpoolfc.com.
“We’ve lost home advantage because it’s at Stamford Bridge, and I think it’ll be two different teams. But other than that, it’s the same two clubs playing. We look forward to it. It’ll be a big game and hopefully we can come out on top by the end of it.”
Liverpool travel to London having already amassed more points from away fixtures against the rest of last season’s Premier League top six this term than they did in the whole of 2017-18.
Robertson confirmed the players are conscious of the importance of improving a record that saw them take just a single point from trips to Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
“Last year, especially away from home I don’t think we were quite good enough against the big teams,” said the Scot. “We drew against Arsenal but other than that we got beat in them all, which was disappointing.
“Chelsea was the last one we played, just after we got into the Champions League final, and we struggled that day with everything rolled into one. They were better than us.
“We’ve already put that right by beating Tottenham, which was a bad result last season. Hopefully we can do that again on Saturday because it was disappointing last season. You just look to put these things right and because you’re playing against one of your closest rivals it has that bit bigger swing to it.”
The cup tie with Chelsea in midweek followed the trend of the victories against Spurs and Paris Saint-Germain in being settled by one goal either way.
But will that always be the case in the biggest matches?
“The disappointment from the Tottenham game was it should never have been that close, we shouldn’t have been hanging on. That could have been four or five,” replied Robertson.
“PSG was very tight, a last-minute goal. And Chelsea came from behind, which is disappointing because when we go out in front we believe we should be good enough to keep them out at the other end and have enough to win the game.
“I believe the game on Saturday will be tight if the two teams show up. But hopefully we can get the better of them and, if we can, our good run continues.”
The Reds return to Champions League duty four days after the clash at Stamford Bridge with a journey to face Serie A side Napoli in their second fixture of Group C.
A gruelling run of games in between international breaks then concludes with the visit to Anfield of Premier League champions City – a showdown that finished 4-3 to the hosts last season.
Robertson will hope to be involved in all three matches but, though he readily accepts it’s a cliché, the No.26 explained exactly why Liverpool’s focus is on each one in turn.
“Genuinely, you have to do that,” he said.
“If you put one eye on Napoli or Man City, you end up slipping up. We need to be 100 per cent at Chelsea – that’s it. That’s the way we have to work because we want to win every game that we play and compete for every cup that we’re in.
“We look forward to Saturday; we won’t be looking to Napoli or Man City. We’ll be looking at the Chelsea game, hopefully get three points and then we can move on from there.”