Liverpool host Chelsea in vastly difference circumstances from Steven Gerrard's slip last season Steven Gerrard of Liverpool on his knees after his costly slip last season. THERE was a moment that went largely unnoticed during Liverpool's loss to Newcastle last Saturday, when Steven Gerrard lost his footing in midfield, much to amusement of the home fans at St James" Park. Steve Gerrard, Gerrard. He slipped on his f***ing a**e. He gave it to Demba Ba. Steve Gerrard, Gerrard," promptly echoed around the stadium. Football fans can be a sadistic bunch. Six months have passed since the Liverpool skipper's untimely slip allowed Demba Ba to score the opener for Chelsea in a 2-0 defeat of the Reds, that split-second moment proving the turning point in last season's title race. The Blues" win in late April, compounded by Liverpool's capitulation a week later - where they surrendered a three-goal lead late on to draw with Crystal Palace - saw Manchester City snatch the ascendancy in the run-in, an advantage they didn't relinquish on the way to winning their second title in three years. A Manchester City fan pokes fun at Stevie G's infamous slip. Liverpool and Chelsea meet at Anfield for the first time since then on Saturday night (EDT) and this time it's the Reds" turn to play the role of party pooper. Already 12 points adrift of Chelsea 10 games into the season, Rodgers is under fire for his team selections in Europe and playing catch-up in the race for the top four. Liverpool needs a win more than ever. It would not only peg back runaway league leaders Chelsea, but strike a psychological blow, proving that Brendan Rodgers" side can still compete with the big boys and that their near finish last season was not simply an aberration, on the back of league finishes of seventh (2010), sixth (2011), eighth (2012) and seventh (2013). The obvious difference from this Liverpool side - to date characterised by its insipid attack and leaky defence - and the one that took the league by storm last season with their swashbuckling style is the absence of Luis Suarez. The 31-goal hero is now at Barcelona. A dejected Steven Gerrard of Liverpool looks on after last season's loss to Chelsea. The Uruguayan, who watched his skipper's slip on ground level at Anfield, has offered his take on the incident - which Gerrard himself admits was the worst time in his life - in his new autobiography, "Crossing the Line." If I had been in Stevie's shoes, I don't know if I would have been able to carry on playing. Emotionally, it must have been very, very hard," Suarez writes. In the previous weeks, so much had been said about him, the expectation had built so much, the talk had been about him leading Liverpool, his club, to a first title in over 20 years, on the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, in which his cousin had died, and then that happens. The captain, the former youth-teamer, the one-club man, a Scouser born and bred, and he was the unlucky one to make a crucial mistake. Liverpool were left frustrated by Chelsea's tactics last season. He still hadn't won the league title. Stevie had started to believe, we all had. And now it had been virtually taken away from him and like that, with him slipping against Chelsea. Gerrard - in the twilight of his career - says he can't afford to dwell on his stumble, putting it in the past. And the first step towards that catharsis comes on Saturday. A win won't make him and the Liverpool fans forget, that's something that will live long in the minds and hearts on the red side of Merseyside, but it certainly won't hurt in getting the Reds back on track. In west London you know all is well when Jose amps up the mind games, something he was only too happy to do when asked about Rodgers resting the likes of Gerrard, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson and Mario Balotelli for Wednesday's 1-0 Champions League loss to Real Madrid. "If one day I go to a game and I don't feel I can win, maybe I don't go," he told reporters before his side's own Champions League slip-up, a 1-1 draw with Slovenian underdogs Maribor. Chelsea's perceived negative tactics in April - which included time-wasting from the very first minute - irked Suarez and Liverpool, but with the contrasting positions of the two sides and the firepower added to his squad in the summer, you expect Jose's Blues to take it to their opponents this time round. Originally published as Time slips by: Reds" chance for revenge