Liverpool arrived at Stamford Bridge on a Friday night in mid-September looking for three massive points. We’re only at game number five of this season but a victory would propel Liverpool into the top four. Defeat, however, would leave Liverpool seventh with everyone else still to play this weekend. It would also have left Liverpool six points behind Chelsea at this very early stage of the season.
The evening started with the news that Roberto Firmino would be unavailable due to a slight injury. After his wonderful display against Leicester at the weekend, this was certainly a blow but Philippe Coutinho isn’t the worst replacement in the world! In addition, Dejan Lovren replaced Lucas Leiva at centre-half.
Liverpool started brightly and were irresistible for the first 20 minutes. Playing with intensity and confidence on the ball, they attacked Chelsea from the off. They deservedly took the lead through a fine Lovren (17′) finish from a Coutinho cross.
After this, Chelsea started to gain a foothold in the game but their small spell of pressure was soon blown away by a stunning goal from captain Jordan Henderson (36′). Taking one touch from a poor Gary Cahill clearance to smash the ball home from more than 25 yards.
Chelsea were better in the second half and Liverpool were happy to have seen out the first fifteen minutes without incident, Unfortunately in the 16th minute, poor defending allowed Nemanja Matic to stride through the Liverpool backline and tee up Deigo Costa (61′), who made no mistake.
After this, there were nervy moments for Liverpool, none more so than when substitute Lucas gave away a free kick on the edge of the penalty area on 88 minutes. Thankfully it came to nothing and Liverpool survived to record their third win of the season and go fourth in the Premier League.
Here are the ratings for Liverpool’s players.
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