BRENDAN RODGERS has urged Liverpool to find their killer instinct to ensure his game of Russian roulette pays dividend at Stamford Bridge tomorrow.

Rodgers has come under fire in some quarters for fielding an understrength team in Thursday’s 1-0 Europa League defeat against Anzhi Makhachkala in Moscow.

Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Nuri Sahin, Joe Allen, Raheem Sterling and Jose Enrique all remained on Merseyside in preparation for the Premier League visit to high-flying Chelsea.

All seven will return to the fold this weekend with Rodgers admitting his side must become more ruthless in front of goal for his selection gamble to pay off.

“Never mind that we are playing a big team, I think it is just about winning,” said the Northern Irishman. “When you go to a rival like Chelsea, they are always going to be difficult.

“For us it is just about collecting the points, whether it is at Chelsea or somewhere else. It doesn’t matter. We are just looking to keep our level up.

“We are creating opportunities to score. We just need that wee bit of finesse and killer instinct to finish off some very good approach play.

“We go into it in decent form. We just need that bit of good fortune to go our way to turn draws into wins.”

While Chelsea lie just a point off leaders Manchester United, Liverpool are a further 12 points adrift in 12th place having won only two of 10 top-flight outings.

Nevertheless, Liverpool have won their last four Premier League games against Chelsea and completed top-flight doubles over the Londoners in three of the last four seasons.

It prompted Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo to label the Anfield outfit as a “bogey team”, and Rodgers responded: “Hopefully it continues that way.

“They have had a terrific start to the season. Roberto has done a terrific job.