London: When it really matters, Liverpool usually beat Chelsea.
That means Chelsea are likely to defeat Liverpool in Sunday's Community Shield game, which is essentially a meaningless game -- the last practice match -- before the English Premier League season opens on August 19.
Chelsea and Liverpool have played 10 times in the last two seasons. Though Liverpool coach Rafa Benitez has won only twice, they've been gigantic victories.
Liverpool has beaten Chelsea in two semifinals -- in the 2005 Champions League, which Liverpool went on to win, and last year's FA Cup -- which Liverpool also won.
The game, featuring the league champion against the FA Cup winner, will again be played at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, because of a delay of more than a year in completing Wembley Stadium.
Chelsea, aiming to win its third consecutive Premier League title, have splurged in the offseason, buying Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack, Salomon Kalou and Mikel John Obi.
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has spent about 400 million pounds (US$750 million) on players since taking over the club three seasons ago.
"Chelsea have strengthened again, spent more money than anyone else again, but it has been like that for the last three summers," Benitez said. "That is normal now every summer, but we will send out a team who will compete with them."
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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho hasn't had much time to integrate his new players because of the World Cup.
"This is the most difficult preseason I have had in my career," Mourinho said. "We have to play Liverpool after only 15 days of pre-season. That is very difficult.
"Other teams at this moment are in better condition than we are. We are working to improve and the natural tendency is to get better."
Ballack is expected to start with fellow attacking midfielder Frank Lampard, part of an offense that should give Chelsea more goals.
The last time the two played in Cardiff, Chelsea beat Liverpool 3-2 to win the 2005 League Cup.
"Chelsea have signed a few people in the summer as we expected they would and they will be the team everyone has to beat again this season," Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard said. "But we have also strengthened our squad in every department and we are looking forward to the battles ahead."
Liverpool has signed Jermaine Pennant, Craig Bellamy and Mark Gonzalez. Bellamy and Gonzalez scored on Wednesday in a 2-1 first-leg win over Maccabi Haifa in Champions League qualifying.
Gonzalez's strike came in the 88th minute, shortly after he was sent on as a substitute.
Like Mourinho, Benitez said Liverpool had struggled with a lack of pre-season.
"In this game we had several of our top players with 15 days less training than the rest because of their late come back from the World Cup," he said.
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