WINNING UGLY!
Liverpool’s savage intensity keeps Chelsea at bay. . .just
THE league table shows why Liverpool fans are happy: five points clear still, six games in. Yet Chelsea supporters left singing the name of their manager, too, on the day they slipped into the bottom half of the table. Sometimes there’s more to a match than meets the eye.
This is a young team, still missing several significant players, yet they ran Liverpool close. And the Reds are good. Good enough to be the first to start consecutive Premier League seasons with six straight wins.
Good enough to be leading the table by record margins at this stage of the season. To be on the longest winning streak of league games in the club’s history. And to find ways to sweep important games like this.
Yesterday two free-kicks made the difference: the first curled home by Trent Alexander-Arnold, the next completed by a Roberto Firmino header after a superb delivery byAndrew Robertson. That left Chelsea with an insurmountable obstacle to try and overcome.
Liverpool have not lost a league game from a leading position since going down 2-1 to Crystal Palace at Anfield in April 2017. Chelsea might have done enough to equalise, but to win? Probably not. Liverpool’s sheer energy and defensive resilience told in the end. There is really no such thing as a beautiful title win. Even Manchester City had to get it done ugly at times last season. So if free-kicks, hard running, and a lot of screaming from Jurgen Klopp were what was needed, so be it. This is a hard league to win. No wonder Klopp insists on savage intensity. The one time Fabinho delegated to his team-mates, rather than taking it upon himself to close N’Golo Kante down, Chelsea equalised. There were 19 minutes left when the Chelsea man collected the ball, dribbled into the box and, as Fabinho gestured for cover, struck a low shot that brought Chelsea back into contention.
It was no more than they deserved. They may be a long way behind Liverpool in experience, but Klopp gets what Frank Lampard is doing.
Judging by their reaction the fans do, too. They will put up with a year of transition if the way forward can be seen.
This was Liverpool’s perfect response to their blip against Napoli last week, the continuation of a domestic run as hard-fought as it is impressive: one defeat in 45 league games, and that against Manchester City, away. They have also taken 118 points out of a possible 135.
Chelsea could have led 2-1 after 27 minutes. Instead, 30 minutes, in they found themselves 2-0 down. The free-kick Andreas Christensen gave away on the edge of the area after 14 minutes was unnecessary.
He had one go at Sadio Mane, didn’t succeed, had another and took his legs.
Mohamed Salah stood over the ball and then rolled it, with a smart backheel, into AlexanderArnold’s path. His shot was in the corner, out of the reach of Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Then came the three minutes that changed the game for Chelsea. Tammy Abraham looked lively, yet taking chances in games like this are what defines a player as he comes of age and, after 24 minutes, he fell short.
A punt upfield saw Abraham’s run taking him clear of Liverpool’s back line, and one-on-one with Adrian. It should have been the equaliser, instead he fired straight at the keeper.
Then VAR pulled the rug from beneath Chelsea’s feet. This was their best spell of the half and it culminated in a move that saw Mason Mount cross from the left, Fabinho unable to clear and Cesar Azpilicueta force the ball over the line after a scramble.
Stamford Bridge was delirious but VAR decreed that Mount’s foot was in an offside position. Just. Not the sort of infringement that would have caused a second’s discussion a year ago had play simply continued. Still there it was. Offside. Certainly, by the letter of a law now being deployed so miserably it is making the days of catastrophic human error appear a golden age of reason.
In that second the momentum shifted. Chelsea’s Azpilicueta fouled Georginio Wijnaldum and Liverpool took an excellent free-kick, cleverly worked by Robertson. Chelsea defended it poorly and gave Roberto Firmino a free header. CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Arrizabalaga 7; Azpilicueta 7, Christensen 5 (Zouma 42), Tomori 7 Emerson (Alonso 15); Kante 8, Jorginho 6; Mount 6, Kovacic 6, Willian 6; Abraham 6 (Batshuayi 76). Subs not used: Caballero, Barkley, Pedro, Pulisic. Booked: Tomori, Kovacic. LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Adrian 9; Alexander-Arnold 8, Matip 8, Van Dijk 8, Robertson 7; Wijnaldum 6, Fabinho 7, Henderson 6 (Lallana 83); Salah 6 (Gomez 90), Firmino 7, Mane 6 (Milner 72). Subs not used: Kelleher, Shaqiri, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Brewster. Booked: Fabinho, Alexander-Arnold. Man of the match: Adrian. Referee: Michael Oliver. Attendance: 40,638.