Winner of Lukaku-Van Djik duel could set a marker for Premier League

Romelu Lukaku and Virgil van Djik may not by themselves decide Saturday’s Chelsea-Liverpool clash, but theirs could be a sub-plot that enhances the drama at Anfield involving two teams that love to press.

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There are a lot of similarities between the imposing Dutch defender—one of the five who have signed recent new deals as Liverpool seek success with the core that won the Champions League and the Premier League in successive seasons before injuries led to a spectacular slump—and the big Belgian, Chelsea's newest acquisition. Both had childhoods where money was hard, left their countries early (Lukaku was 18 when he first joined Chelsea and Van Djik 21 when Celtic signed him), made significant improvements under Ronald Koeman and have had their share of failures.

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Lukaku feeling “unloved”, as he told Belgium’s ‘Sportmagazine’ in 2016, stretched through all the clubs he played for since Anderlecht sold him in 2011, till Inter Milan bought him in 2019. Lukaku said he drew inspiration from American basketball stars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. “Great champions who were criticised but managed to make themselves respected,” he said.

Van Djik, whose charisma courses through the Liverpool team, is strong in air, can start an attack and whose leadership skills go beyond organising the backline, couldn’t make the first team at Willem II in Holland. Angry, he moved to Groningen in 2010 when he was 18. Four years later, Louis van Gaal left him out of the Holland squad for the World Cup. Van Gaal is back with the national team where Van Djik is now captain.

Going into the season’s first Liverpool-Chelsea league tie, Van Djik has played two competitive games after almost 300 days because of an ACL injury. “I am not a robot. I cannot be back to 100% immediately,” he said, after Liverpool’s 3-0 win against Norwich City. Lukaku has had five days of training with Chelsea and played one match, against Arsenal, with immediate impact.

Van Djik partnered Joel Matip at the heart of the defence in both games. It was Liverpool’s 20th central defensive pairing, only two less than England’s search for a successful opening batting pair. Like with openers Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed—and despite being better stocked with defenders this time—Liverpool will hope that Van Djik-Matip can hold firm.

There’s no overstating how crucial Van Djik’s return to form, which he has said will need “games, time and repetition”, is to Liverpool making a bid to regain the Premier League. At Celtic, he got the experience of playing in the Champions League; Southampton polished his leadership skills and Liverpool his tactical nous. Van Djik played 93 successive league games before the injury following a reckless challenge by Everton goalie Jordan Pickford in October 2020. It was the most ever by a Liverpool outfield player and it came during a time when they won the league (2019-20) and finished second (2018-19) by one point.

“He (Van Djik) is the only player in the Premiership who will fancy his chances against Lukaku,” said Jamie Carragher, the former Liverpool defender, on Sky Sport’s Monday Night Football. At 6 foot 4, Van Djik is one of the few central defenders in the league who wouldn’t be intimidated by Lukaku who is almost the same size. But what Van Djik or any defender against Lukaku cannot do is drop too deep, said Gary Neville on the same programme.

“You have got to step up there. (Pablo) Mari (of Arsenal) continuously allowed himself to get pinned one on one and he was never going to be able to deal with Lukaku physically on duels,” said Neville, a former Manchester United defender.

In football, events in one part of the pitch often influence what happens in another. Mari dropping deeper meant Arsenal left space between their midfielders Granit Xhaka and Albert Sambi Lokonga and the defence. Not all teams have the same resources but how Liverpool’s midfield and defence deal with Lukaku, and the threats of Chelsea’s other attacking players such as Mason Mount and Kai Havertz, could provide teams a solution to what last Sunday looked like an unstoppable force.

Having started the season with a player-of-the-match performance, Lukaku must continue to be the solution to Chelsea’s biggest problem last term—goals. That’s something Lukaku hasn’t got against Van Djik in four Premier League games since the Dutchman moved to Southampton in 2015. Their first meeting, in November 2016, had Van Djik bossing an off-colour Lukaku in a lethargic Everton side. Nearly three years later, on March 10, 2018, Lukaku stamped his influence in a Manchester United–Liverpool game by capitalising on errors from Dejan Lovren, Van Djik’s partner in central defence, as United won 2-1. In the same year, Lukaku had an assist for Jesse Lingard in a 1-3 defeat to Liverpool, the goal coming after an error from goalkeeper Alisson that had Van Djik crouching and burying his face in his palms. Lukaku and Van Djik were part of another United-Liverpool tie, on February 24, 2019, that ended goalless.

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