Chelsea could hand debuts to summer signings such as Nicolas Jackson and Axel Disasi but Christopher Nkunku, who has joined from RB Leipzig, may be out until January with a knee injury.
Wesley Fofana is a long-term absentee after having knee surgery last month.
Fellow defender Benoit Badiashile is recovering from a hamstring issue.
New head coach Mauricio Pochettino has indicated that Kepa Arrizabalaga will keep his place in goal ahead of recent recruit Robert Sanchez.
Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister are set to make their Liverpool debuts.
Two more midfielders, Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic, are likely to miss out through injury.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
Each of the last six league and cup meetings between Chelsea and Liverpool have been drawn, including the two domestic cup finals in 2022, both subsequently won by the Merseysiders on penalties.
The four most recent encounters have finished 0-0 – no fixture in competitive English football history has finished goalless five times in a row.
The last time Chelsea hosted Liverpool in the opening round of a top-flight season was in 1937. The Blues won 6-1, with George Mills scoring a hat-trick.
Chelsea
The Londoners are winless in eight home matches in all competitions (D4, L4) since beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in the Champions League on 7 March.
The Blues have won their opening Premier League game on 20 occasions, a joint record.
Chelsea have earned four Premier League wins and 20 points in 2023, fewer than any other side ever-present in the top flight in this time.
They only won one of their 19 league matches against teams who finished in the top half of the table last term – that came away to Aston Villa in their penultimate game under Steven Gerrard.
The Blues made a combined 139 changes to their starting XI in the Premier League in 2022-23, the fourth highest tally by any side in the history of the competition.
New Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino has won five of his seven Premier League matches on the opening weekend of the season, with his only defeat coming at Manchester United in 2015.
The only permanent Chelsea manager to suffer a home defeat in his first Premier League fixture in charge of the club was Glenn Hoddle against Blackburn in 1993.
Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp’s team lost eight Premier League away matches last season, as many as in their previous three campaigns combined.
The Reds have not lost their opening league game in any of the past 10 seasons (W8, D2), with their last such defeat a 3-0 loss at West Bromwich Albion in 2012.
The Merseysiders are unbeaten in 11 Premier League matches (W7, D4).
This run started with a 0-0 draw at Chelsea, the only time they failed to score in those 11 matches.
Mohamed Salah has scored in Liverpool’s opening Premier League game in all six of his seasons with the Reds. His total of eight goals on the opening weekend is a joint record in the competition, matching the totals of Alan Shearer, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney.
