Chelsea vs Liverpool Review
Liverpool lost their position at the top of the Premier League to Arsenal ahead of the international break after a last-minute 2-1 defeat to Chelsea, marking their fourth consecutive Premier League loss in London. Their title defense has been unconvincing, with weaknesses once again apparent early on at Stamford Bridge. Poor midfield performance allowed Moisés Caicedo the space outside the penalty area, and he punished them ruthlessly by firing a powerful shot from 25 yards into the top corner. Liverpool nearly responded immediately through Dominik Szoboszlai, but despite some skillful wing play from Cody Gakpo setting up the unmarked Hungarian, a remarkable block from Benoît Badiashile prevented what seemed like a certain goal.
Chelsea’s persistent off-the-ball efforts were causing frustration for the Reds, who showed moments of brilliance but were unusually wasteful in the attacking third. This was highlighted by Milos Kerkez, who, instead of simply passing the ball to Mo Salah for an easy tap-in inside the six-yard box, mistakenly passed to Marc Cucurella. In reality, the visitors were somewhat lucky to be only one goal down at halftime, especially since five minutes before the break, Alejandro Garnacho’s shot from the edge of the box hit the outside of the post and bounced away.
Slot had seen enough by halftime and chose to bring on Florian Wirtz to inject fresh attacking energy into his team. This move nearly paid off immediately when Wirtz found Salah inside the box just 20 seconds after the restart, but the Egyptian striker’s right-footed shot went wide. However, shortly after the hour mark, Liverpool finally broke through Chelsea’s defense. Szoboszlai’s cross was well controlled by Alexander Isak, but before Isak could shoot, Gakpo seized the opportunity and scored to equalize the match.
Chelsea losing their two starting center backs to injury gave Liverpool the advantage in the final moments, but it was actually the Blues who appeared more likely to secure all three points. In the last 10 minutes, Jamie Gittens, Caicedo, and Estêvão all forced Giorgi Mamardashvili into impressive saves, though these only delayed the inevitable. Chelsea continued to press until the very end, and their persistence paid off in stoppage time when Estêvão slid in at the far post to finish Cucurella’s cross, handing Liverpool a stoppage-time defeat for the second consecutive weekend, following Liverpool’s own late comebacks earlier in the season.
