Liverpool welcome Chelsea in their third Premier League match of the season and all eyes will be on how Virgil Van Dijk handles Romelu Lukaku.
The Chelsea forward ridiculed the Arsenal defenders last weekend as he scored his first goal of the season for the Blues. But Van Dijk is a different beast altogether.
The centre-back missed most of the previous season with a long-term injury but now that he has returned, Liverpool are already looking much more assured and composed in defence.
And given how Romelu Lukaku has gone missing in the past against the big sides some pundits think the Belgian will come out flat in his first significant test of the campaign.
Liverpool’s keeper Alisson has also stressed on the confidence-booster that the side have gotten after the return of Van Dijk.
Alisson said, as quoted by Sky Sports: “We already have a top team and having Virgil is really important for us.
“He is someone who gives you confidence on the pitch with his presence and his qualities. He can give so much for you defensively – and attacking-wise, setting up the moves.
“In the last match [against Burnley] he did a fantastic pass to Harvey [Elliott] for the second goal and he’s an amazing player.”
Van Dijk not fully ready to face Romelu Lukaku?
Ex-Liverpool player Jose Enrique though has stated that Van Dijk might have gotten minutes under his belt but the defender is still not a 100% match-fit.
“The problem we have: with our two centre-backs – with Matip I’m not worried – Van Dijk I know what people think (even at 70% he’s still one of the best centre-backs in the world) but I can see he’s still not 100%,” the former fullback told Empire of the Kop.
“You can see in his tackles and recoveries he’s still a world-class centre-back.
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“At 100% I believe he’s the only centre-back that can actually match [Romelu] Lukaku in terms of his strength and speed. But obviously, he’s not 100% yet.
“But you have to still put him straight into the team because even at 70% he’s still probably the best centre-back in the league.”
Romelu Lukaku has an added advantage over Van Dijk:
Against Arsenal, Romelu Lukaku had a passing accuracy of 95% and he managed two shots on target out of which he put one in the back of the net. He got a rating of 8.4 out of 10 on Fotmob and considering this was his first match since his re-signing, the forward still has a lot more to offer.
Van Dijk is slowly building up speed as well and when it comes to the ariels duels, we think the Dutch international will be able to fend off Romelu Lukaku pretty easily. But the Chelsea forward also has blistering pace and this is something that could eventually be the downfall for the Liverpool defender.
There’s no way Van Dijk will be able to match Lukaku for pace this early on in the side so if the Chelsea striker can get on the wrong side of VVD then we are expecting to see the only outcome.
Against Arsenal, the Belgian also showed glimpses of how well he can link up with the other forwards so not only Van Dijk but Joe Matip will also have to keep an eye over his shoulders just to make sure that players like Mason Mount or Havertz do not get the better of him.
