Liverpool 4-1 Chelsea.
Liverpool took on Chelsea in their first Premier League fixture since the news broke that Jurgen Klopp would be leaving the Reds at the end of the season.
It was always going to be an emotionally charged event, but the atmosphere only powered the Scouse side into playing some truly devastating football straight from the off.
First, Conor Bradley’s attack set up Diogo Jota who backed himself to squeeze through Chelsea’s wall of defence and poke the ball home to make it 1-0.
Then, the Tyrone native broke free on the right hand side, and burst forward at pace, with the whole of Anfield urging him to shoot – and shoot he did.
With expert precision, the 20-year-old scored his first ever goal for the club to make it 2-0.
The flying right back was playing with serious confidence and could do no wrong, and when Liverpool had a chance to put the game out of sight with a penalty before half time, Darwin Nunez – who was electric in every other aspect of his game – hit the post, adding to his tally of misses in this match.
Dominik Szoboszlai then made it three with yet another Bradley assist, and Klopp felt that young Irishman had done his job, as he subbed him off to a standing ovation, so that Trent Alexander-Arnold could get some minutes in his legs.
Chelsea also made three substitutes – one of them being Christopher Nkunku – and he managed to pull a goal back to make it 3-1. There was then a call for the away side to get a penalty after a clumsy tackle from Virgil van Dijk, but VAR didn’t award it, much to the frustration of Mauricio Pochettino.
Nunez may not have been able to find the net – hitting the woodwork four times in the match – but he assisted Luis Diaz perfectly for the home side’s fourth goal that effectively ended the tie as a competition.
Liverpool team:
Alisson – 9
Bradley – 10
Van Dijk – 8
Konate – 8
Gomez – 9
Jones – 8
Mac Allister – 8
Szoboszlai – 8
Diaz – 8
Jota – 8
Nunez – 8
Chelsea team:
Petrovic – 7
Disasi – 4
Silva – 5
Badiashile – 5
Chilwell – 2
Caicedo – 4
Fernandez – 5
Palmer – 4
Gallagher – 3
Sterling – 5
Madueke – 2
Substitutes:
Nkunu: 6 (Scored a good goal when he came on)
Related links:
- Liverpool announce All Or Nothing-style series for Jurgen Klopp’s final season
- Virgil van Dijk says future comments ‘taken out of context’ as two new names enter Klopp successor race
- They used to laugh at Jurgen Klopp, but they aren’t laughing anymore
