Big spenders vs Scrooges. Plastic club vs people’s club. Russia vs America.

No matter how Chelsea vs Liverpool is spun, the first Big Six clash of the new EPL season should be a feisty affair – and that’s just in the dugouts.

There was a furious spat between managers in Liverpool’s 5-3 win over the Blues at Anfield in July – the night the champions were presented with the long-coveted trophy.

Most of the fury – and f-words – came from Frank Lampard who accused Jurgen Klopp of arrogance.

It’s a pity there are no fans allowed as ringside seats for Sunday night’s return would have been sold out long ago.

The spat was sparked by the award of a freekick from which the Reds promptly scored. It was no more than what’s known in the trade as “handbags”, but it doesn’t take much for these clubs to rub each other up the wrong way.

When Klopp defended Liverpool’s lack of spending in the transfer window by saying “we are a different sort of club” to those “owned by countries, oligarchs,” and perhaps taking a sly dig at Chelsea, Lampard claimed that Liverpool had also spent big to win the title.

It would be a surprise if there are no touchline fireworks at Stamford Bridge on Sunday night (11.30pm kickoff in Malaysia) as this fascinating clash seldom disappoints on or off the field as you’d expect when finances, philosophies, ethos, fans and just about everything else are polar opposites.

And now, thanks to Covid-19, these differences have come into sharper focus. In the transfer market, Chelsea are spending as if there’s no tomorrow while Liverpool’s is as if tomorrow is Doomsday.

Even if we include the Reds’ incoming Thiago Alcantara for a bargain £25million, the Blues will have outspent them by £200m.

To be fair to the Londoners, this isn’t just a case of Roman Abramovich rekindling his passion for fantasy football.

As stated last week, Chelsea were banned from spending in one transfer window and opted not to in the next – despite receiving £90m from Real Madrid for Eden Hazard.

But as well as making up for lost time and showing that the new economic normal does not apply to them, this level of recruitment (six players and counting) raises the question: who is choosing them?

Many Chelsea fans look back on the ban as a blessing in disguise. Instead of loaning out their academy kids for another season, the likes of Tammy Abraham (15 goals in 34 games), Mason Mount and Reece James did well enough to be capped by England.

But now Lamps has to fit in a dozen full-international attacking players, many jockeying for the same position.

The cramming of fixtures means that squad depth has never been more important but this still could be a recipe for discontent if not rebellion.

Neither the new boys nor last season’s graduates will be content to sit on the bench.

Veteran Olivier Giroud has spoken of his “desperation” to leave last January because he wasn’t getting a game: what more the hungry kids who have shown they can do the job?

The numbers are one thing, where they play is another. Ask any fan to pick a team and you’ll end up with about seven strikers.

Defence can be an afterthought but this is not the pub or the mamak – and every fan knows that great teams are built from the back.

Chelsea’s defence is their weak link – and after spending £250m, it still is.

Goalkeeping is the biggest problem. The Blues not only agreed a world-record £72m for Kepa Arrizabalaga but a salary of £195k a week – for seven years. The Spaniard has never convinced and was culpable again in the opening game.

One stat this week claimed he has the worst save percentage in Premier league history. For how costly a dodgy keeper can be, just ask Liverpool who lost the Champions League thanks to a certain Loris Karius.

Nor is Edouard Mendy – Kepa’s likely £20m replacement from Rennes – much better according to his stats which are way short of top keepers like Ederson and Alisson.

So far, the defenders brought in are also less than convincing. Chilwell is a good footballer but his forte is going forward not defending – he could be an expensive upgrade on Marcos Alonso.

Two centrebacks – Brazilian veteran Thiago Silva, 35, and French junior international Malang Sarr – have arrived for free but it’s hard not to think one is past his best and the other some way short of his.

None of this suggests the manager is in charge of recruitment.

So, who is? Given the keeper situation, it would be a surprise if it were Petr Cech, the director of football, who has Abramovich’s ear but not as much as Marina Granovskaia, who is the oligarch’s right-hand woman at the club and runs the show.

Both sides won their opening matches albeit some good fortune. Liverpool needed two penalties – one contentious – to beat newly promoted Leeds while Chelsea were flattered by a 3-1 scoreline at Brighton.

While Liverpool were at full strength but showed a degree of rust in unexpected places, Chelsea fielded only three of their new recruits and were still dodgy at the back.

But, like politics, a week is a long time in football and it should be fascinating viewing from which we may learn a lot about the coming season.

And perhaps the differing longevity of the respective managers.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.