Chris Sutton’s Premier League predictions v The Piano winner Brad Kella
Kella was the winner of the second series of Channel Four’s talent show, The Piano. His debut single, Eve & Frank, is out now.
The 23-year-old self-taught classical pianist only started playing the instrument aged 13 and, before he turned to music, he was football-mad.
Kella grew up in Bootle on Merseyside and says there was never any question over who he would support.
“My whole family were Liverpool fans,” he told BBC Sport. “So, I was brought up a Red too.
“My favourite players when I was growing up were Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard – that was my era.
“I was too young to remember Istanbul [Liverpool’s legendary Champions League triumph] properly. I can remember all the fireworks going off afterwards, but it is only a vague memory.
“The highlight for me is more recent – the Barcelona game where we got beat 3-0 at the Nou Camp but then they came to Anfield in the second leg and we thrashed them 4-0. It was an incredible night.
“From that team I loved Jordan Henderson and Virgil van Dijk – he was a massive standout at the back and is arguably the best defender in the world – but that whole team under Jurgen Klopp was just ridiculously good.”
Kella was invited to play at Anfield’s Legends Lounge before Liverpool’s first game of the season against Brentford, when he opened the club’s new trophy room and was given a signed shirt by legendary striker Ian Rush.
“That was just unbelievable,” Kella added. “But when I was there, I was speaking to a few people in there about Arne Slot, and how he had such big shoes to fill.
“I could not imagine anything more daunting than taking Klopp’s job straight after he left, but Slot has absolutely smashed it out of the park.
“We are not just winning games, either. The results have been great but we are playing good football too.”
Kella plays a lot less football himself these days but he was in action this week in a charity game at Bootle FC to raise money for Zoe’s Place, a baby hospice in West Derby which is at risk of closure because of a lack of funding.
“It’s massive for Liverpool that this facility stays open so the whole city is doing as much as possible to raise the funds,” he explained.
“I even wore blue on the day – never again, though!”
Chris Sutton and Brad Kella were speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan.
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