Chelsea meet Liverpool

LONDON – Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari is happy to play ugly football if it means going three points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Scolari’s team hosts Liverpool on Sunday, with the two teams level on points and free-scoring Chelsea way ahead on goal difference. That means a draw will keep Chelsea top, but Scolari wants more than that and doesn’t care how his team wins.”I want to play beautiful football against Liverpool,” the Brazilian said.”But more important for us is, if we don’t play very well, we need to score one or two goals and win the match.”Scolari is also aware that Liverpool, having its best Premier League start for several seasons, has a habit of scoring late so he wants the Blues to be in control at Stamford Bridge before the referee blows the final whistle.”They are a strong team and they don’t fight for 90 minutes but 100 minutes,” said Scolari, whose team has not conceded a goal in six league and cup games.”They have won four games (this season) with goals after 85 and 90 minutes.We need to pay attention until the referee finishes the game.”Having won 5-0 at Middlesbrough last weekend, Chelsea failed to impress at home to AS Roma in a Champions League game on Wednesday.Scolari’s team won 1-0 thanks to a set-piece header from John Terry, who has been ailing with a long-term back injury.Amid rumours that the England captain needs more surgery to cure the problem, Scolari says Terry is receiving regular treatment and is in no danger of missing Sunday’s game.”This week, he’s been training normally with the other players,” Scolari said.”He’s continued his treatment with the medical staff, with the doctors, because we need them to look at him and help him before training every day.But now he is in a normal situation.He is not suffering any pain.”Liverpool is expected to be without Fernando Torres because of a hamstring injury that kept him out of Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid.But manager Rafa Benitez hopes that Steven Gerrard, Robbie Keane and Xabi Alonso will face the Blues.Benitez is enjoying his team’s good form, but he is reluctant to say that Liverpool is on course for its first league title since 1990.Defending champion Manchester United has hit top form both in the league and Europe, and the Red Devils go to Everton hoping to trim the six-point deficit they have to make up on the leaders from fifth place.Including Tuesday’s 3-0 Champions League victory over Celtic, Alex Ferguson’s team has scored 17 goals to win six games in a row and hasn’t conceded in the last five.Wayne Rooney has collected nine in seven games and is out to score his 100th goal against former club Everton at Goodison Park.Third-place Hull, having won at Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham this season in its first season in the top flight, hopes to maintain that run with a victory at West Bromwich Albion, which also came up last season.Saturday’s other games are Sunderland-Newcastle and Blackburn-Middlesbrough.Also Sunday, it is: Manchester City-Stoke City, Tottenham-Bolton, Wigan-Aston Villa, West Ham-Arsenal and Portsmouth-Fulham.Nampa-APThat means a draw will keep Chelsea top, but Scolari wants more than that and doesn’t care how his team wins.”I want to play beautiful football against Liverpool,” the Brazilian said.”But more important for us is, if we don’t play very well, we need to score one or two goals and win the match.”Scolari is also aware that Liverpool, having its best Premier League start for several seasons, has a habit of scoring late so he wants the Blues to be in control at Stamford Bridge before the referee blows the final whistle.”They are a strong team and they don’t fight for 90 minutes but 100 minutes,” said Scolari, whose team has not conceded a goal in six league and cup games.”They have won four games (this season) with goals after 85 and 90 minutes.We need to pay attention until the referee finishes the game.”Having won 5-0 at Middlesbrough last weekend, Chelsea failed to impress at home to AS Roma in a Champions League game on Wednesday.Scolari’s team won 1-0 thanks to a set-piece header from John Terry, who has been ailing with a long-term back injury.Amid rumours that the England captain needs more surgery to cure the problem, Scolari says Terry is receiving regular treatment and is in no danger of missing Sunday’s game.”This week, he’s been training normally with the other players,” Scolari said.”He’s continued his treatment with the medical staff, with the doctors, because we need them to look at him and help him before training every day.But now he is in a normal situation.He is not suffering any pain.”Liverpool is expected to be without Fernando Torres because of a hamstring injury that kept him out of Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid.But manager Rafa Benitez hopes that Steven Gerrard, Robbie Keane and Xabi Alonso will face the Blues.Benitez is enjoying his team’s good form, but he is reluctant to say that Liverpool is on course for its first league title since 1990.Defending champion Manchester United has hit top form both in the league and Europe, and the Red Devils go to Everton hoping to trim the six-point deficit they have to make up on the leaders from fifth place.Including Tuesday’s 3-0 Champions League victory over Celtic, Alex Ferguson’s team has scored 17 goals to win six games in a row and hasn’t conceded in the last five.Wayne Rooney has collected nine in seven games and is out to score his 100th goal against former club Everton at Goodison Park.Third-place Hull, having won at Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham this season in its first season in the top flight, hopes to maintain that run with a victory at West Bromwich Albion, which also came up last season.Saturday’s other games are Sunderland-Newcastle and Blackburn-Middlesbrough.Also Sunday, it is: Manchester City-Stoke City, Tottenham-Bolton, Wigan-Aston Villa, West Ham-Arsenal and Portsmouth-Fulham.Nampa-AP