Mediocre Liverpool face exacting test at Chelsea
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-01 16:47

Liverpool will discover how realistic their title ambitions are when they travel to buoyant Chelsea on Sunday.

Jose Mourinho has yet to taste defeat in nine games at the Stamford Bridge helm and his team appear rapidly to have acquired their manager's occasionally breathtaking self-assurance.

On Wednesday even a fan from his former club Porto spitting in his face did not faze Mourinho and he has brushed off the charge that his side are boring with equal disdain.

"What for me is absolutely amazing is the way my big players play as a unit, play for the team, play for a result," Mourinho said. "That's the reason why over nine matches nobody has beat us."

Liverpool, in contrast, are without their two best players from recent years + striker Michael Owen to Real Madrid and midfielder Steven Gerrard to injury + and have made a patchy start under Spanish coach Rafael Benitez.

Tuesday's 1-0 Champions League defeat by Greek side Olympiakos Piraeus was their fourth loss in seven matches.

Ten points from their opening six games in the Premier League, though, is no disgrace and Liverpool won 1-0 at Stamford Bridge last season.

Benitez's side have struggled on their travels and have developed a habit of conceding headed goals, a fact that will have been noted by the likes of Didier Drogba and John Terry in the Chelsea side.

"It is worrying that our away performances are so different from the games at Anfield and we have to work hard to change that," Benitez said.

Leaders Arsenal, who are two points ahead of Chelsea, welcome fellow Londoners Charlton Athletic to Highbury on the back of a mediocre 1-1 Champions League draw with Rosenborg Trondheim in Norway on Wednesday.

Charlton have crept up to seventh in the table, mainly on the back of impressive home form.

Like Bolton Wanderers two weeks ago, they will consider a draw as good as a win on Saturday against Arsene Wenger's apparently invincible side, who have not tasted defeat in the league for 47 games.

Wenger criticised his team for being "too cautious" against Rosenborg and will demand a sharp response on Saturday, which is bad news for Alan Curbishley's side.

ROONEY READY

Wayne Rooney will do well to improve on his remarkable debut for fifth-placed Manchester United if Alex Ferguson selects him for his league debut against Middlesbrough at Old Trafford on Sunday.

The 18-year-old's dazzling hat-trick against Turkey's Fenerbahce in the Champions League on Tuesday was an indication of United's firepower with Alan Smith, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Louis Saha also vying for places in attack.

Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren, though, will have been heartened by United's poor defensive organisation against the Turks.

Rooney's former club Everton have made light of his absence this season, rising to a lofty third in the table. They tackle improved Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday at Goodison Park having not conceded a goal in their last four league games.

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