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• Chelsea and Liverpool can make up ground, says manager
• Fernando Torres set to return for visitors at Stamford Bridge

The Chelsea manager André Villas-Boas has refused to rule Liverpool out of the Premier League title race, despite Sunday’s visitors to Stamford Bridge having slipped 12 points behind the leaders Manchester City.

Three draws in their last three home games have seen Liverpool lose ground at the top of the table yet despite their inconsistent form, Villas-Boas insisted Kenny Dalglish’s side were still title contenders, because of their huge recruitment drive this year. “I’ve always seen them as title contenders because it’s been assumed by them that they would do it,” Villas-Boas said. “Dalglish has made the necessary changes to Liverpool for them to progress to title contenders this year.

“He made seven changes to the team, seven coming in, which represents the type of commitment the ownership have to put them back on title-winning ways. They are one of the biggest clubs in England and I always assumed they were challenging for the title.”

For Villas-Boas to say otherwise would cast doubt on the championship credentials of his own side, who have themselves fallen behind City. Defeat would see Liverpool move level with Chelsea.

If Tottenham Hotspur were to beat Aston Villa on Monday , Chelsea might find themselves outside the top four. That is a scenario the club’s owner Roman Abramovich is unlikely to countenance for too long. The Russian wasted little time getting rid of Luiz Felipe Scolari almost three years ago when he began to fear the club may not qualify for the Champions League.

With the man who came in to save Chelsea’s season then, Guus Hiddink, back on the market, defeat would put pressure on Villas-Boas. But the 34-year-old said losing to Liverpool would not be a disaster, pointing out that Chelsea almost managed to claw back an even greater deficit from February last term.

“Chelsea’s recovery last season was from February onwards,” he said. “April, March and May are still tight in terms of the calendar. All the top teams will most likely be involved in the Champions League, which can dictate tiredness or less response in terms of the Premier League.”

However, with crucial Champions League games and a Carling Cup quarter-final also coming up, Villas-Boas acknowledged the next month is crucial for his side. “It’s a good period for the different competitions,” he said. “You can qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League, the Premier League can maybe start taking its pattern by the end of December. There’s also a quarter-final in the Carling Cup with Liverpool, which gives us a chance to go into that competition next year.”

Sunday’s game will almost certainly feature a recall for Fernando Torres, who started on the bench against Blackburn Rovers before the international break. In that game Daniel Sturridge was deployed as Chelsea’s central striker, despite Villas-Boas having previously declared the 22-year-old would play exclusively as a wide attacker this season.

Sturridge looks set to return to the flank on Sunday providing he shakes off the knock that ruled him out of training on Friday, in a position he also occupied on his England debut against Sweden on Tuesday.

Villas-Boas believes Sturridge’s next challenge is to maintain his club form in order to remain part of Fabio Capello’s plans. He said: “His performances for the club have taken him to England, and to a first appearance, which is something that is gratifying. When someone arrives at that level, you have to prove you can continue to be at that level. That’s the challenge he faces.”

André Villas-BoasChelseaLiverpoolguardian.co.uk

Goalkeeper regrets his fellow Spaniard’s departure for Chelsea but believes the new-look Reds can be contenders again

Pepe Reina joined his old friend Fernando Torres on international duty last week. On Sunday for Liverpool he faces him at Stamford Bridge, assuming the Chelsea striker is selected against his former club. Torres was not in the starting lineup for Spain against England and Liverpool’s Andy Carroll did not even make Fabio Capello’s squad. Since the dramatic final day of the January transfer window neither the most expensive player to move between two English clubs nor the record British signing has had the easiest of years. Both have looked uncomfortable because of the size of the fee, although it could be argued Torres looked uncomfortable long before being sold.

The Liverpool goalkeeper particularly felt Torres’s pain at severing his Merseyside connection because he, too, had considered finding a new club. He felt the Liverpool he ended up playing for was not the Liverpool he had joined and, like Torres, was told he had to stay because the club would not release any big-name players while they were in the process of being sold to new owners. The only difference was that world-class strikers, even out-of-form ones, tend to be coveted more than goalkeepers and can still attract the sort of offer it would be difficult to refuse.

“I consider those months leading up to January to be the worst of my Liverpool career too,” Reina says. “It was incredibly sad to see Fernando go but I could understand his reasons for leaving. He started to feel Liverpool were never going to be competitive again. He was struggling with his own form too but the way we were playing I think even Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi would have struggled. We were playing without identity, it was probably the lowest point in Liverpool’s history.

“The club Fernando joined had just been to a second Champions League final in three years. When he left the only double the club could manage was losing twice to Blackpool. Fernando did a tremendous job for Liverpool and scored a lot of goals but he never got the goodbye he deserved. The supporters had formed such a special relationship with him and to see that bond broken was really sad but we carry on without him now. It’s been said many times but no one is bigger than Liverpool. Players and managers will come and go but the club will always stay.”

Reina insists he would rather look forward than back and believes things have improved enormously at Liverpool in a short space of time, mostly because of what else happened at the end of the January transfer window. “The money the club spent on Andy Carroll and Luis Suárez was a real statement of intent,” he says. “It was the kind of positive action that a lot of other people as well as myself had been aching for, and so were the signings that followed in the summer. It showed that even after all our problems Liverpool could compete in the transfer market. We could still attract top players and that was important to us all.

“It’s all about us being positive now and improving the club’s position. A great hunger and determination has always been present at this club but maybe in the past the quality and strength you need was not always there. Now with the new owners we have some stability back and you can sense the positivity returning. Liverpool should be aiming for more than just a top-six finish and, with the quality we have in the squad now, I think we should soon be able to aim for the title. With the right balance between the owners, the players and the supporters I think we can be contenders.”

Liverpool certainly have a top player in Suárez, whose form for his club and for Uruguay since arriving from Ajax for £23m has been consistently impressive. The only drawback is that controversy seems to follow the player who handled on the line in a World Cup quarter-final against Ghana and served a suspension in the Netherlands for biting an opponent, and if Suárez ends up with another ban after being charged by the Football Association over abusive remarks made to Patrice Evra the spotlight will fall even more uncomfortably than it already has been doing on the other striking buy Liverpool made last January. Kenny Dalglish keeps claiming he is happy with Carroll’s progress and he has plenty of time on his side, though Capello would not have been the only detached observer to form the conclusion that to be considered a success, never mind justify his fee, the former Newcastle centre-forward needs to start more games and score more goals.

Reina thinks that, as with Jordan Henderson, the important consideration is that Liverpool are putting down foundations for the future. “We are building a mid- to long-term project here and for that you need a good mix of experienced players and young ones coming through,” he says. “Luis was an instant hit, Andy was injured at first and will maybe need a little longer. But they are both good players, that’s the main thing.

“As is Fernando, whatever his form at present. He is my friend and I will always have time to speak to him but I will only wish him luck after the game at Chelsea. He’s tougher than he looks. I offered my help when he was leaving Liverpool but he didn’t need it, he’s mentally strong. He took everything on his own shoulders but he could handle it, be mature about it. Sometimes in football you just have to move on.”

LiverpoolFernando TorresChelseaPaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk

Nine years on from buying the Red Sox, Liverpool’s owners are seeking a radical change to English football’s finances

2002 New England Sports Ventures buys the Boston Red Sox for $700m (£480m). Theo Epstein is hired as general manager to oversee an overhaul in player recruitment

2004 The Red Sox, under the management of Terry Francona, win their first World Series title since 1918

Feb 2007 NESV buy a 50% stake in the Roush Racing Nascar team

Oct 2007 Red Sox win World Series

Oct 2010 NESV buys Liverpool for £300m following a high court battle during which the club’s existing owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, tried to block the sale

Dec 2010 Boston sign left-arm hitters Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez for wages of $140m and $154m over seven years respectively

Jan 2011 Roy Hodgson is sacked as Liverpool manager and replaced by Kenny Dalglish on a caretaker basis

Jan 2011 Liverpool sell Fernando Torres to Chelsea for £50m and, having already signed Luis Suárez from Ajax for £22m, buy Andy Carroll for £35m from Newcastle United

Mar 2011 NESV becomes Fenway Sports Group

May 2011 Dalglish signs three-year contract as Liverpool manager

Aug 2011 Liverpool begin the season having signed Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing for £20m each, Charlie Adam for £7.5m and José Enrique for £6m

Sept 2011 After a final‑month collapse, the Red Sox fail to qualify for the post‑season play‑offs

Oct 2011 Francona is let go as Red Sox manager

Oct 2011 Ian Ayre, Liverpool’s manager director, reveals the club’s desire to break away from the Premier League’s collective-selling model in relation to overseas TV rights

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