Barney Ronay on a pulsating draw
Here’s Jacob Steinberg’s player ratings from Stamford Bridge:
That’s it for today’s blog - thanks for your company and emails. Goodnight!
And here’s Virgil van Dijk
“For the outside world, it was quite a good game to watch. But we came here for three points and we didn’t get them. They have an amazing team, so have we; we were under pressure at times but we defended well and I always had the feeling we could win 3-2. It didn’t happen.
“I’m quite a big fan of Caoimhin Kelleher. He’s learning from the best in my opinion. His presence is good, he’s confident on the ball, and we need him right now.
“It’s City’s title to lose but anything can happen. It happened to us [in 2018-19] when we had a lead and unfortunately lost it. We have to focus on ourselves and win games.”
It wasn’t actually an elbow from Mane, he caught Azpilicueta with a forearm smash. That said, it looks worse every time you see it, and on reflection I think he should have been sent off. Anyway. Apparently VAR said it was “reckless rather than violent”.
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The thoughts of Cesar Azpilicueta
“We fought hard to come back from 2-0 down but we wanted more. We thought we could push for the winner in the second half but it didn’t quite happen.
“[On Mane’s forearm smash] It’s a clear red. I don’t care if it’s five seconds into the game – he doesn’t look for the ball, he just wants to hit me with the elbow. I don’t understand. We are getting a lot of decisions against us.
“We started really well in the game – we pressed a lot, they couldn’t make two passes, and we had chances. Then suddenly in two actions we were 2-0 down. We know they have a lot of quality and we cannot give them any opportunities.
“In the second half we tried our best. We left everything on the pitch but it was not enough. We are lacking a bit of freshness that could have given us a bit more.
“City are top and the more points we leave behind, the happier they will be. They have set the standard really high and we need to raise on our level. We are on our way but we have not managed the level of consistency we needed to stay at the top.”
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Here’s the updated Premier League table. Fuggedabowdit.
Chelsea and Liverpool’s title hopes have gone down in a blaze of glory. That was wonderful entertainment, a sophisticated bar-room brawl of a match. It was The pace was demented throughout, and there were a couple of extraordinary goals from Mo Salah and Mateo Kovacic.
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Full time: Chelsea 2-2 Liverpool
And after all that, the winner is... football. (And Manchester City.)
90+2 min “What’s the opposite,” says Mike Gibbons, “of shit on a stick?”
90+1 min The tireless Tsimikas wriggles away from Mount on the left wing and pokes a cross that is cleared by Thiago and then sliced behind by somebody else. Tsimikas’s corner is poor and headed way by Hudson-Odoi.
90 min Manchester City are four minutes away from the title.
90 min Curtis Jones replaces Sadio Mane, who set the tone for a furious match by elbowing Cesar Azpilicueta in the kisser after precisely six seconds.
89 min Alonso’s corner is headed away and Liverpool break four on two, but Oxlade-Chamberlain can’t control a difficult ball on the stretch.
88 min Pulisic’s teasing cross just evades Hudson-Odoi and is volleyed away by Alexander-Arnold. Chelsea look the likelier winners, and moments later Pulisic’s cutback is put behind by Tsimikas.
87 min Mount’s corner is glanced wide by Rudiger, who had to run away from goal to meet the ball.
86 min Chelsea have been much better since switching back to 3-4-3, and Hudson-Odoi has won another corner off Alexander-Arnold. The second half has flown by.
85 min “I agree, Rob,” says Nora. “Kelleher is a composed young goalkeeper and he is Irish.”
With Kelleher and Gavin Bazunu, Ireland should be okay in that department for the next, gulp, 15-20 years.
83 min Konate is booked for fouling Hudson-Odoi.
82 min Mount’s free-kick hits the wall. The ball comes back to Mount, who cracks a good follow-up shot that is well held to his right by Kelleher. It was a save you’d expect him to make, but again he made it with an impressive lack of fuss.
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81 min Kovacic is fouled 22 yards from goal by Keita. The free-kick is to the left of centre, a great position for someone like Mason Mount.
81 min In fact Chelsea have gone back to 3-4-3: Kovacic left, Mount right, Hudson-Odoi up front.
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80 min “Hi Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “Do you reckon Pep has the full pipe, slippers, and smoking jacket on already, glass of vintage Buckfast in hand, or will he be waiting until full time..?”
79 min While Konate continues to receive treatment, Chelsea bring on Callum Hudson-Odoi to replace Havertz. That’s a smart move - Chelsea need more pace up front, especially now they are playing largely on the break.
78 min Konate goes down holding his face and slapping the ground after an aerial challenge with Havertz. He did take a stiff arm to the coupon, though it wasn’t comparable to Mane’s in the first minute. Konate is still down, though.
75 min For the first time all day Liverpool are really dominating possession. Chelsea’s makeshift front two of Havertz and Mount, aka #Haunt, have umpteen qualities but blistering pace isn’t one of them. What Thomas Tuchel would give for Timo Werner now.
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72 min Pulisic cracks a rising drive over the bar from 22 yards. It was a decent effort but Kelleher was comfortable that it was going over.
70 min Looks like Liverpool are playing with Oxlade-Chamberlain as their false nine.
69 min And Chelsea are bringing on Jorginho for Trevoh Chalobah, which means a rejig: Azpilicueta to centre-back, Pulisic to wing-back, Chelsea to 3-5-2 I guess.
69 min A double change for Liverpool: Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replace Diogo Jota and James Milner.
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67 min “Football turns us into idiots,” says Liverpool fan Matt Dony. “This is gloriously unhinged, magnificent stuff. As entertaining as sport can possibly be. And I hate every second.”
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66 min Alexander-Arnold’s corner clears everyone in the middle and comes to Salah on the far side. He feeds it back to the edge of the area for Tsimikas, who drags a cross shot wide of the far post. I think it took a slight touch off Thiago but a goalkick was given. More pertinently, Mane was behind Thiago and might have had an open goal had he been in Ron Atkinson’s wide-awake club.
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64 min All this entertainment, and so far the only winners are Manchester City (and neutrals).
62 min: Good save from Kelleher! Alonso clips a cross towards Pulisic, whose snapshot from six yards is pushed away by Kelleher. It was close enough to Kelleher but he moved smartly across his line to get into position. I was just about to say that, amid the maelstrom, Kelleher has been admirably composed for a young goalkeeper.
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59 min “Salah, Mendy, oh my...” says Mary Waltz. “I don’t have the words to describe the noises I made on that play.”
You’re thinking of the singer.
58 min Another good save from Mendy, who falls to his right to push a rising drive from Mane round the post. The pace of this game is absurd.
57 min: Great save from Mendy! This game is a disgrace. Liverpool broke from a Chelsea corner, with Salah picking up a loose ball 40 yards from goal. Mendy was in an iffy position, too far out and too far to the left, so Salah shaped an extravagant curler towards the top-left corner. It was going in until Mendy threw himself to the right to push it behind.
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55 min Now Fabinho pokes a through ball towards Mane, who knows he’s offside even though play is allowed to continue. He faffs on the edge of the area and loses the ball to the considerable chagrin of Salah, who was onside and might have been through on goal had Mane left the ball.
54 min Jota plays a very dangerous through ball towards Salah, but the last defender is Kante so that’s the end of that.
52 min: Good save from Mendy! Jota smashes a bouncing ball towards goal from the left of the area, and Mendy flies to his left to make a spectacular save. The flag went up subsequently against Jota, but it was really tight so had he scored the goal may well have stood.
51 min: Chance for Chelsea! Kante scurries away from Fabinho and Henderson before shaping a brilliant pass inside Alexander-Arnold to find Alonso. He moves into the area, dummies Alexander-Arnold neatly, cuts inside on his right foot... and then blazes a shot high and wide.
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50 min A draw’s no good, lads, so more of the same please.
48 min Mount comes this close to nicking the ball off Fabinho on the edge of the D. Had he done so he’d have been in, but Fabinho managed to wriggle out of trouble.
47 min “Cracking game, but some tragic defending,” says Jonathan McKinley. “Trent nearly gives it away, Chalobah does, Rudiger lets Mo have a free run for his goal and then the Liverpool defenders just amble towards Kovacic after a punch that stays in the air longer than a Ben Stokes slice. Even Big Virge looks more like a not very Reliant Robin than a Rolls Royce. Still, they all look decent going forward, which makes for a cracking game, and repeat.”
46 min Peep peep! Chelsea begin the second half.
“WOW,” says Mary Waltz. “Amazing how stunning football can erase any memories about, what is his name, lu. lu, lu something?”
You’re thinking of the singer.
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Half time: Chelsea 2-2 Liverpool
Chelsea are roared off after a stirring comeback. It was the most brilliant 45 minutes, a high-class slugfest, and I’m not even going to attempt to summarise it. Just scroll down to 1 min and then scroll back up.
45+2 min There are four minutes of added time. Salah almost gets in at one end, then Mount volleys just wide at the other!
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Rudiger beat Salah to a bouncing ball on the halfway line and poked it forward to Kante. He lobbed it through to Pulisic, who chested it down on the run and forced it high into the net with his left foot. The noise when that goal went in was incredible.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-2 Liverpool (Pulisic 45+1)
This is insane!
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45 min This is tremendous entertainment.
There was a VAR check for offside against Rudiger, who was in an offside position but nowhere near Kelleher’s eyeline. Had they disallowed that goal we might as well have cancelled football for ever.
This is quite stunning. Alonso cracked the free-kick into the six-yard box, where Kelleher got in front of Rudiger to punch clear. The ball dropped towards Kovacic on the edge of the D. He backpedalled daintily to get into position, a feat in itself, and then pinged a swerving, dipping volley that roared into the net off the inside of the post.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool (Kovacic 42)
Mateo Kovacic has seen Mo Salah’s goal and raised it!
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41 min Milner commits a needless foul on Havertz just outside the area on the right...
40 min A frustrated Havertz leaves a bit on van Dijk and is a little fortunate not to be booked. Chelsea started so well but their heads have gone down since the second goal.
39 min Here’s the Premier League table as things stand. Draws are the new defeats (© Sid Lowe).
36 min Alexander-Arnold feeds a smart pass into Salah, 40 yards from goal, and suddenly Liverpool have a three-on-one (O-N-E) attack. The one, Chalobah, makes a brilliant sliding tackle on Salah, and then holds Salah up until support arrives. Eventually Salah has a shot blocked by Thiago (I think).
33 min Jota cracks a lovely ball that flashes across the six-yard box. He needed himself in the middle to finish that off.
32 min Mount tried to run inside Tsimikas, who blocked him. They both fell over; then, as they got up, Mount dragged his leg into Tsimikas’s body. It wasn’t a kick so much as a drag, and VAR decides there’s nothing for Anthony Taylor to see.
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31 min Tsimikas goes down after an off-the-ball incident with Mount. Hmm. Mount could be in trouble here.
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29 min Mo Salah, bloody hell. The scoreline is ever so harsh on Chelsea but that was a moment of savage brilliance.
Alexander-Arnold received the ball just inside the Chelsea half in the inside-right channel. He flipped a nonchalant ball over the top to Salah, who took it down on the stretch at the right corner of the area. Then he slowed down, drawing Alonso towards him, before suddenly stabbing the ball past the flat-footed Alonso on the outside. That put him through on Mendy, who was set for the typical Salah shot to the far corner. Salah did open his body as usual, but only to dummy Mendy before sweeping the ball past him at the near post. A wonderful goal, and yet another demonstration of Salah’s instinctive genius.
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GOAL! Chelsea 0-2 Liverpool (Salah 26)
Mo Salah scores another majestic goal!
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25 min Tsimikias’s corner is headed away to Alexander-Arnold on the edge of the D. He mistimes a shot that loops awkwardly towards a packed six-yard box, and Mendy does well to punch clear.
24 min Alexander-Arnold’s shot deflects behind for a corner. Liverpool are starting to come into the game, which I appreciate is an odd thing to say about a team that is 1-0 up.
22 min Mendy makes a fine one-on-one save from Salah, though it wouldn’t have counted as Salah was subsequently given offside. That doesn’t diminish the quality of the save, mind.
20 min Azpilicueta makes a vital, acrobatic interception to stop Jota putting Mane through on goal.
19 min Mount’s deliberately deep cross is smashed wide on the volley by Alonso. He should have cushioned it back across to Havertz, who was unmarked eight yards out.
18 min “I think that if the Mane challenge was mid-game, he’d have been sent off,” says Stephen Holliday.
There’s probably something in that. I’m not sure he would definitely have gone, but there would have been a greater chance of a red card had it been after 60 minutes rather than six seconds. (The elbow was after six seconds, the card came out after 14 or 15.)
17 min The sliding Pulisic wins a loose ball but then follows through into Jota. He’s booked.
16 min Mount’s shot is blocked by Milner. The goal aside, Chelsea have started brilliantly here.
14 min Thiago Silva flips a ball over the top towards Alonso, who just fails to control it on the stretch. This is thrilling stuff.
11 min Chelsea, of course, will argue that Mane shouldn’t be on the field. The ball did dip in front of Chalobah, but he knows he should have cleared it with his feet. Either that or he needed to summon a Vialli-style sliding header.
Dear me, what a start. Henderson put in a nothing cross from the right that dipped awkwardly in front of Chalobah on the edge of the D. He tried to head the ball instead of using his feet and could only nod it straight into the ground. Mane collected the loose ball, swerved away from Mendy and cracked the ball past Azpilicueta on the line.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Liverpool (Mane 9)
And now Mane scores after a mistake from Chalobah!
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7 min: Fine save from Kelleher! This is pulsating stuff. Alexander-Arnold made a rank howler, hitting a clearance straight at Havertz. The ball ricocheted square to Pulisic, who was one on one with Kelleher. He tried to dance round Kelleher, who dived at his feet to push the ball away. That’s terrific goalkeeping, Alisson-esque in fact.
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6 min: Mendy saves from Rudiger! They’ve found it now. Mane breaks into space down the left and crosses low towards Salah. The last man Rudiger gets there first (I think) and screws the ball towards his own goal, forcing Mendy to dive to his right to make a decent save.
4 min Lots of early possession for Chelsea, with Liverpool yet to find their pass-and-move groove, or its heavy metal equivalent.
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3 min “As a Chelsea fan, I’m disappointed that Lukaku isn’t playing but I trust Tuchel,” says Joe Balfour. “I’ve looked at the interview to see where he could have been misunderstood, but he actually said it all. Still hasn’t publicly apologised either. You’re right about ‘player power’ with us. This is different though. Lukaku went after the club itself, Roman won’t be happy and will back Tuchel. How long that remains? I don’t know.”
I thought that Tuchel interview before kick-off was extremely impressive. Ultimately, he is – or should be - far more valuable to Chelsea than Lukaku.
2 min It’s been a really fast start to the game. Tuchel isn’t happy with that Mane elbow, thinking it should have been a red card. Mane does have form for such accidents, though my first impression is that it was more overzealous than malevolent. An orange card maybe, but not a red one.
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1 min Mane is booked for elbowing Azpilicueta in the face after 14 seconds.
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1 min Peep peep! Amid a pulsating atmosphere, Liverpool kick off from left to right.
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The teams are ready for action. In two hours’ time, at least one of them will be out of the title race. May the best team win and, more importantly, may VAR have bugger all to do with it.
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“Rudi is going to be busy today, Alonso is a great winger but a fairly average full back,” says Kim Crawley. “As for Lukaku, he is acting as though he had scored loads of important goals and is vital to the team. He has not and is not. Hope it’s not 0-0.”
In which Thomas Tuchel answers questions about Romelu Lukaku
“The thing got too big. It got too noisy so close to the match, and I decided to protect the preparation for the match. That’s why he’s out. Of course we have spoken. We’ve spoken twice and I also spoke to the main players. We have a big match to play and we need full focus - that’s hard to get even with this decision, but in my opinion it’s easier if he’s not in the squad. For sure it’s a difficult decision to take, but in my opinion it’s the correct one.
“I cannot really tell you [how fit and strong the team is]. It’s always a bit of a gamble what we do right now: we come from injuries, we come from Covid. I think we are pretty strong to start, and let’s see how much fuel we have. We need good energy in the stadium - we need momentum and support in every single minute because it’s a big match against a tough opponent.
“It’s never a must-win game, but we go for the win no matter what. This is what we do. We accept and respect the quality of the opponent. It’s a must to give everything and to leave our heart out there, and to do this together as a team. Then we have a chance of a result.”
“Hope this is a good one,” says Ruth Purdue. “Will be interesting where the spaces will be found for Liverpool. Will they sit and wait for Chelsea or go at them devastatingly. Tactical battle is always interesting - especially if it is a draw.”
I can’t see Liverpool sitting back. I’d need to check to be sure, but I think I’m right in saying they’ve had at least 48.3 per cent possession in every Premier League game this season, with an overall average of 63.2 per cent rising to 63.8 per cent in away games.
Jordan Henderson speaks
“[Jurgen Klopp] will be a big miss, he’s our leader. But we’ve got great leaders and experienced people in the dressing-room, so for us it’s business as usual. Hopefully we can put on a performance to make the gaffer feel a bit better at home.”
The pre-match thoughts of Liverpool’s assistant manager Pep Lijnders
“Jurgen has mild symptoms – but Jurgen is Jurgen, he gives everyone positive vibes and gives us all energy, even from home. We don’t come here with excuses [because of all the absentees]. We are here to attack the game; we come here with hunger, with the idea to create a final. We want to make it a special game.”
The transfer window is open again!
It’s more exciting than the actual football, you know.
“As ever, I’m scared,” says Matt Dony. “I mean, sure. Liverpool don’t actually need a talismanic manager, one of the world’s best goalkeepers, a consistently elegant defender, an attacker who has so often knitted everything together, or The Best Left Back Ever (don’t @ me). This is all fine. It does seem like any title hopes are mostly dead. And there’s a big difference between mostly dead, and all dead. But that difference might just be a defeat to Chelsea.”
Or a draw. If I were you - and I’m not, and how lucky at least one of us is that that’s the case - I’d divert my attention to number seven.
“Benching Lukaku for an extremely important match for complaining to the press seems petulant to me,” says Zach Neeley. “If I was one of his teammates, I would be very frustrated that he wasn’t just fined and the best team put out. (Benching may be an American term that makes less sense when a place on the bench is something of value.)”
Well, there’s a decent argument that leaving him out improves the team, given his atrocious big-game record, but he’s not even on the bench so it’s clearly a punishment. I think it’s the right decision; that interview was preposterous. If you just fine him it’s likely to be the thin end of the wedge, and Chelsea managers are vulnerable enough to player power at the best of times.
(That’s just, like, my opinion, man.)
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Team views
Where to start with all that? Thiago Silva is fit to start for Chelsea, which is such a boost for Thomas Tuchel. Mateo Kovacic is preferred to Jorginho in midfield and the ghostly Kai Havertz returns up front. In all there are five changes from the 1-1 draw with Brighton on Wednesday: Thiago, Trevoh Chalobah, N’Golo Kante, Marcos Alonso and Havertz replace Andreas Christensen, Reece James, Jorginho, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Romelu Lukaku.
Caoimhin Kelleher replaces Alisson in goal for Liverpool, and Ibrahima Konate covers for Joel Matip. The only other change is in midfield, where James Milner is preferred to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
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Team news
Chelsea (3-4-3) Mendy; Chalobah, Thiago, Rudiger; Azpilicueta, Kante, Kovacic, Alonso; Mount, Havertz, Pulisic.
Substitutes: Kepa, Sarr, Jorginho, Barkley, Saul, Ziyech, Vale, Hall, Hudson-Odoi.
Liverpool (4-3-3) Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Tsimikas; Henderson, Fabinho, Milner; Salah, Jota, Mane.
Substitutes: Pitaluga, Adrian, Beck, Gomez, N Williams, Morton, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jones.
Referee Mr Anthony Taylor.
Alisson Becker, Roberto Firmino and Joel Matip have been ruled out of Liverpool’s clash with Chelsea today after returning suspected positive tests for COVID-19.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 2, 2022
“Happy new year!” says Ryan Grubb. “Been on the champagne here in the States since the sun came up. Might as well enjoy the pain. I for some foolish reason believe that the winner here will still give us some semblance of a title race. Up until they both lose at the Etihad anyway. Here’s to avoiding a draw at all costs!”
I do hope, if it’s level going into injury time, both teams switch to the emergency 0-0-11 formation. We all thought Alisson’s goal at West Brom last season was a JFK moment; wait till Caoimhín Kelleher roofs one from 35 yards today.
Big Rom’s big-game woes have taken a new twist
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live, unbiased coverage of Chelsea v Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. There are two conflicting sales pitches for this game. Depending on your perspective, and possibly your allegiance, it’s either a title-race eliminator or a glorified second-place playoff.
Chelsea are 11 points behind the leaders Manchester City with this game in hand; Liverpool are 12 adrift with two in hand. A draw is no use to anyone except the bookies and the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG), so this should be a lively affair with a whiff of desperation.
That desperation is likely to be compounded by the ill health of both squads. Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is without Reece James, Ben Chilwell and possibly Thiago Silva from his best XI. Romelu Lukaku is also absent with a mouth problem.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will be without Jurgen Klopp, who has Covid, as well as Andy Robertson, Thiago Alcantara and possibly Alisson. He and Roberto Firmino missed training on Thursday, triggering speculation that they have also tested positive for Covid.
All will be revealed when the teams are announced at 3.30pm. It’s more exciting than the actual football, you know.
Kick off 4.30pm.
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