Liverpool and Chelsea braced for Round 4

It is déjà vu all over again for Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC as they prepare to meet in a UEFA Champions League knockout tie for the fourth time in five seasons.

• The main novelty about this contest is that it comes at the quarter-final stage, following semi-final ties in 2005, 2006 and 2008. On each previous occasion the team playing the second leg at home prevailed so Chelsea will be hoping history repeats itself as they seek to replicate their 4-3 aggregate success against Liverpool last season.

• For their part, five-times European champions Liverpool can take heart from home-and-away wins against their opponents in the Premier League this season – not to mention an unbeaten home run in the UEFA Champions League that stretches to ten matches, including qualifiers.

• Both teams have formidable recent records when it comes to surmounting this particular hurdle: Liverpool won quarter-finals in 2005, 2007 and 2008, while Chelsea advanced in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008.

• This time round Liverpool advanced to their 13th quarter-final in Europe's élite competition thanks to an emphatic 5-0 aggregate triumph against Spanish champions Real Madrid CF (1-0 away, 4-0 home). Rafael Benítez's charges had previously won Group D with a record of W4 D2 L0 and are one of three sides still unbeaten in the competition alongside FC Bayern München and Manchester United FC.

• The Merseyside club's overall record in European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-finals is: P12 W9 L3. Their most recent last-eight contest came against another London side, Arsenal FC, last season, and Liverpool prevailed 5-3 on aggregate.

• As for their first quarter-final, against Germany's 1. FC Köln in 1964/65, that was decided by the toss of a coin – in Liverpool's favour – after two goalless draws and a 2-2 replay in Rotterdam failed to produce a winner.

• Guus Hiddink steered Chelsea through to the last eight as 3-2 aggregate victors against Juventus (1-0 home, 2-2 away). Under former manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, the London outfit had earlier finished second in Group A with a record of P6 W3 D2 L1.

• Chelsea's overall quarter-final record is: P5 W4 L1. At this stage of last season's competition, Chelsea suffered a 2-1 first-leg loss at Fenerbahçe SK but recovered to win the tie with a 2-0 home victory.

• That defeat in Istanbul forms part of a sequence of seven away matches without victory for Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League, excluding last season's final.

• The rivalry between Liverpool and Chelsea has intensified over the course of eight UEFA Champions League encounters since 2005. Each side has won two games – but never by more than a single goal.

• The full breakdown of results is:
2007/08 semi-final 
Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea (Kuyt 43; Riise own goal 90+4)
Chelsea 3-2 Liverpool (Drogba 33 115, Lampard 98 pen; Torres 64, Babel 117)
Chelsea won 4-3 on aggregate

2006/07 semi-final
Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool (J Cole 29)
Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea (Agger 22)
Aggregate 1-1; Liverpool won 4-1 on penalties

2005/06 group stage
Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea
Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool

2004/05 semi-final
Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool
Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea (García 4)
Liverpool won 1-0 on aggregate

• Liverpool are unbeaten in five home meetings with Chelsea and won the last Anfield encounter 2-0 in February thanks to Fernando Torres goals after 89 and 90 minutes.

• That victory completed a Premier League double for Liverpool against Chelsea after Xabi Alonso's tenth-minute strike earned a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge in October – a result that ended Chelsea's 86-match unbeaten run at home in the domestic championship.

• Overall the clubs have now met 154 times. There have been 69 wins for Liverpool, 53 for Chelsea, and 32 draws. The previous 75 meetings at Anfield have produced 49 wins for Liverpool, ten for Chelsea and 16 draws.

• Chelsea ran out 2-0 winners in each of the clubs' two previous quarter-final meetings – at Stamford Bridge in the English League Cup in 2007/08 and at Anfield in the FA Cup in 1931/32.

• Liverpool have won four of six previous two-legged contests against English sides in UEFA club competition. In addition to their UEFA Champions League successes against Arsenal and Chelsea in recent seasons, they beat Tottenham Hotspur FC on away goals in the 1972/73 UEFA Cup semi-finals following a 2-2 aggregate draw.

• Liverpool's two defeats by domestic rivals were last season's semi-final loss to Chelsea and a 2-0 aggregate reverse against Nottingham Forest FC in the 1978/79 European Cup first round.

• Chelsea's record in two-legged ties against compatriot clubs is three wins and two defeats. Aside from their duels with Liverpool, they beat Arsenal 3-2 on aggregate in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals and Manchester City FC 2-0 on aggregate in the 1970/71 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-final en route to lifting the trophy.

• Yet they lost the biggest game in their history, last season's UEFA Champions League final, against Premier League rivals Manchester United, going down 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

• Chelsea manager Hiddink has mixed memories of Anfield. He led the Netherlands to a 2-0 victory against the Republic of Ireland in a play-off for EURO '96™ – but six months later, on the same ground, saw his Dutch side lose their quarter-final against France on penalties.

• Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt and Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou led the attack for Dutch club Feyenoord between 2004 and 2006. Kuyt scored 51 league goals and Kalou 35 over the course of their two seasons together.

• Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka spent the second half of 2001/02 on loan at Liverpool, scoring four goals in 20 league games.

• The second leg will take place in London on Tuesday 14 April.

• The winning team will meet the winners of the tie between FC Barcelona and Bayern in the semi-finals.