Dominic Fifield's match report from Stamford Bridge
I’m going to sign off now. Here’s the report from Chelsea. Thanks for your emails and tweets. Bye.
I would like to bring you the post-match comments from Klopp and Conte but the coverage has switched to Wenger’s farewell speech at the Emirates. He began it by wishing his friend Alex Ferguson well as he recovers from brain surgery and ended it by telling the Arsenal fans that he will “miss them”.
It would be some feat if Liverpool managed to fail to qualify for the Champions League by cocking things up against Brighton. But that’s now a real possibility. Blimey. Of course, if they win the Champions League they could also knock Chelsea into the Europa League even if Antonio Conte’s side do manage to finish fourth.
Arsenal gave Wenger a fine send-off at the Emirates. They won 5-0.
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Jeremy Dresner writes: “Liverpool enjoyed the warm optimistic hug of the final third. Playing like percentages in areas actually matter. But they were strangely allergic to the six-yard box. Like a vegetarian running an all-meat farm-to-plate restaurant. No bite.”
Well, after a slow start Chelsea showed other teams how to nullify the threat of Liverpool: defend deep and afford them very little space in behind. That was exactly what Antonio Conte said his team would do before the game. He would have liked a little more enthusiasm in the first 20 minutes but after the goal the work rate was never a problem. Liverpool ran out of ideas – and puff - towards the end of the match. They have now lost 2-1 to Manchester United, drawn 0-0 with Everton, 2-2 with West Brom, 0-0 with Stoke and lost 1-0 to Chelsea after Champions League matches. The European hangover is real, folks.
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Full-time: Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool
Van Dijk gets on to the end of a Mane cross but his header is straight at Courtois. And that’s that. Liverpool still haven’t secured Champions League football next season and Chelsea have given their top-four chances renewed hope.
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90+3 min: Solanke heads wide from six yards after leaping early to get on the end of a Mane cross to the near post. Rudiger leapt at the Liverpool forward, though, and did enough to put the striker off.
90+2 min: Liverpool come again. Moreno swings a ball into the back post that Alonso brings under control with a neat header down before thumping clear. And then Fabregas is replaced by Pedro, which wastes some time and takes the sting out of Liverpool’s attack.
90 min: There will be four minutes of injury time. Liverpool just cannot find the space to shape a shot when they work the ball into the Chelsea penalty area. That’s testament to Chelsea’s increased work rate. They’re not giving any of Liverpool’s forwards a chance to turn.
89 min: Zappacosta is on for Moses, who has been excellent for Chelsea today. And Moreno is on for Milner, who looks knackered.
88 min: Lovren plays a curled diagonal ball into the box towards Solanke, who finds a good spring in his step to tower above Cahill and head just over from 12 yards.
87 min: It’s all a bit sloppy as Solanke loses possession easily and then Cahill gifts the ball back to Liverpool. The attempted clipped pass into the box by Milner is gathered comfortably by Courtois.
85 min: Willian, who scored in this fixture at Anfield earlier this season, is brought on for Hazard, who has been exceptional since Chelsea’s goal. Hazard is given a standing ovation as he trots off.
82 min: Firmino is caught in possession on the halfway line but, as he often does, he wins the ball back off Fabregas as though offended. Liverpool build and Henderson bends a ball into the box that Rudiger stretches to head up and away. And then Henderson repeats the trick, trying to find Firmino on the far post, but Azpilicueta sweeps at the ball, mis-kicks and puffs his cheeks out in relief after watching the ball bobble harmlessly into Courtois’s arms. He was tad lucky there, all right.
80 min: Then Chelsea break and Moses curls a delicious ball in to the back post, where Alonso bends backwards and thumps a left-footed volley inches wide of the far post. That would have been a sublime goal. It was behind him and difficult to control.
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78 min: Liverpool are going for this. Alexander-Arnold pings a ball in to Solanke’s feet. The youngster is under pressure but does well to hold the ball near the penalty spot. He’s desperate to turn and shoot at goal but the ball is prodded away by Cahill near. Mane picks up the loose ball and looks to shoot but the blue Chelsea wall moves out squashes the space expertly. The pressure is building though.
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76 min: Azpilicueta stops a dangerous-looking Liverpool attack with a wonderfully-timed sliding interception just outside the penalty area. He’s such a steady player.
74 min: Robertson is taken off. Solanke is brought on. Klopp is going to go for this point. Milner is either playing rock–paper–scissors as he gets instructions off Klopp or he’s instructing the team that they’re playing 3-4-2-1. I think that’s what his hands said, anyway.
71 min: Salah tries to dance around a crowd of Chelsea players in the box. He almost succeeds but is finally forced to cut back inside where he tries to play a one-two with Firmino, but the Brazilian’s back-heel is stabbed away. Chelsea break but their counter-attack fizzles out in the final third.
70 min: Arsenal are winning 4-0 now. They’re definitely better than Burnley.
68 min: This is all going wrong for Liverpool. Their passing has gone to pot and they’re looking disjointed now too. Robertson chests a ball towards Karius that is nowhere near the keeper and drifts out for a corner. Karius probably could have come out and helped the Scottish full-back out, mind.
66 min: Moses shows fleet of foot on the right as he tries to engineer an opportunity to cross but Robertson does well to hold him up and Liverpool clear. Liverpool break and Henderson finds Firmino on the right. The Brazilian swivels inside his marker and clips a cross into the box where a sum total of zero Liverpool players are waiting for the ball.
65 min: Salah has been quiet today but he has been quiet in other Liverpool games and then scored. He’s had only 22 touches in the game so far.
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64 min: Salah lurks menacingly on the edge of the box and flicks the ball towards Mane but Rudiger gets a boot on the ball and sends it high into the air. It’s not pretty but Chelsea clear eventually.
62 min: Hazard plays a one-two with Bakayoko and beats Alexander-Arnold for pace down the left with a jet-heeled burst of acceleration. He can’t find a cross but the ball is worked back to Bakoyoko on the edge of the box but his shot is good old-fashioned daisy-cutter that slows down as it rolls across the dry pitch.
60 min: Henderson is on for Clyne. The full-back has looked a little rusty today. Alexander-Arnold will now play at right-back and Henderson can sit in midfield.
57 min: Hazard leads Firmino and Clyne on a merry dance down the left, leaving both looking flummoxed in his wake before walloping a shot at Karius that loops up and is cleared hurriedly at the back post by Robertson for a corner. From that, Giroud wins a header and Rudiger clatters the ball past Karius but he’s a mile offside.
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55 min: Kante puts paid to another Liverpool attack, skidaddling into the path of Robertson and shepherding the ball out of play for a goal-kick after Milner had prodded the ball down the left wing.
53 min: Liverpool win a couple of free-kicks around the penalty area that are defended well by Chelsea. The home side then break forward rapidly and force Robertson to clear at Liverpool’s far post. Chelsea look better balanced now. They’re much better in the transitions than in the first half.
51 min: Hazard is enjoying himself now. He plays a rabona pass for no reason at all. I doubt he’d have done that early in the first half when Chelsea weren’t in the game.
49 min: Alexander-Arnold takes a look at goal, thinks about laying the ball off and then thinks better of that and goes for the Roy of the Rovers approach. Thwack! It’s miles over. Nothing wrong with a bit of chutzpah from a youngster, though.
47 min: Hazard wriggles away from his marker on the left wing and finds Fabregas inside him. The midfielder spins away from his marker and then momentarily loses control before taking an extra touch and freeing Moses on the right-hand side of the box. But the winger’s shot at goal is drilled a foot wide. That was nifty play.
It's the second half!
45 min: Peep! So, can Liverpool get the point they need to secure Champions League football next season. Salah has an early whiff of goal but his hot from 10 yards is scuffed under pressure.
“Would Arsenal now be in the Uefa Cup final if they hadn’t moved Giroud on?” asks William Hargreaves. Erm, I doubt it. One man alone cannot hold up a crumbling house. Arsenal are winning Wenger’s final Gunners home game 2-0 by the way, so they’ll probably finish above Burnley. Whoop!
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Joseph Harvey talks tactics: “As a Liverpool fan who has watched every Chelsea-Liverpool match the past couple of years, Conte has a really good plan against Liverpool. Basically, it’s let Liverpool have most of the ball, counter when you can. Towards the end of the last match, Conte threw on Fabregas and Willian and basically bossed the game. Liverpool were lucky to get out with a draw. Sure, Liverpool look dominant, but barring something special, this is probably the best way to play against Liverpool. Mind you, it doesn’t help to have Spurs fans on your side.”
Maybe this is all part of a Klopp motivational masterplan. “By the way lads, you need to beat Real Madrid to do this all over again next season!”
Half-time: Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool
Chelsea hold out and Klopp has some thinking to do at half-time. For large parts of the first half Liverpool looked the better team but some nice wing-play from Moses and a trademark Giroud header have given the home team a lead that may keep their top-four hopes alive. Back shortly.
45 min: The half is drawing to a close with an extended spell of sterile possession from Liverpool. The blue wall in front of them appears to have very few cracks in it.
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44 min: Rudiger does well to hold off Salah and wallop the ball out for a throw. They were team-mates at Roma last year. Rudiger has certainly read Salah well and has looked solid against the turbo-charged Egyptian so far this afternoon.
42 min: A reader tweets:
@GreggBakowski Why did Giroud celebrate with David Luiz, is there some connection between them that I don't know about? Surely they can't be best mates, Olivier just arrived.
— max bertfield (@maxlbertfield) May 6, 2018
Like with much of football I suspect the answer lies in dressing-room b@ntz.
40 min: Clyne is booked for clattering into Alonso over by the touchline. Fabregas swings the resulting free-kick towards the back post but Karius catches confidently under pressure.
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38 min: Liverpool are back in possession and comfortable once more. They work the ball back up to to Salah, who dinks the ball across the D looking to make space for a shot and then tumbles under a challenge that was never really there. He’s correctly booked for a dive.
35 min: Ah, what a goal can do for confidence. Fabregas wriggles away from Robertson and fires what appeared to be a shot across Karius and out for a goal-kick. In fact, maybe it was a cross. It was a mighty tight angle.
33 min: Before that goal Chelsea did set an alarm bell ringing when Bakayoko headed wide from a Moses cross. Well, this makes the game, and maybe the last game of the season, very interesting.
Goal! Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool (Giroud 32)
Well, that was against the run of play but Chelsea won’t care. Moses scoops a cross in towards the near-post and Giroud nips in front of Lovren to glance a header across goal into the far corner. He legs it away to celebrate with David Luiz on the Chelsea bench.
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30 min: Mane has two half-chances again, first walloping one at goal from 25 yards that Courtois parries away and then picking up a loose ball with a wonderful turn before stabbing straight at Courtois from the penalty spot from 12 yards.
29 min: There are shadows cast on to the Stamford Bridge turf by the late-afternoon sun. However, this hasn’t happened yet.
Is it the line? Is it the shade? 🤔💭
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) May 6, 2018
Fair to say the Welsh sunshine is causing some confusion at the Cardiff City Stadium today! 🏴☀
Watch Cardiff's push for Premier League promotion live on Sky Sports Football now! https://t.co/WqGAjfhNH3 pic.twitter.com/Ttz84bRiVk
27 min: Liverpool are pressing high up the pitch and Chelsea cannot get out of their own half with any ease. Conte is rubbing his head. It’s safe to say he’s not happy with what he’s watching. Liverpool, for all their endeavour, have not had a clear-cut chance yet though.
26 min: Milner is hobbling in midfield. They have Henderson on the bench but beyond him their midfield backup consists of some 12-year-olds, Tinhead from Brookside and one of the Crankies.
24 min: Mane rifles a low shot at goal that Courtois parries. It was reasonably central though so the keeper was expected to save it. Still, it was hit with thunderous force. From the resulting corner Courtois gets the slightest of touches on the ball to take it away from Van Dijk’s head. It was a free header into an open goal had the keeper not got something on it. Liverpool are still very much bossing this game.
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21 min: Clyne crosses low after some dazzling footwork from Salah on the right but the ball is behind Mane, and the forward wallops a right-footed attempt into nearby Putney.
20 min: Shaun Wilkinson writes: “Do you think Klopp calling this ‘a semi-final’ was an attempt at some kind of Jedi mind trick? Liverpool haven’t won the league in nearly 30 years, but have won a ton of cups in that time. Does he think the way to finally win the league is to hypnotise his players into believing every league game is actually a cup game?” Maybe Derren Brown will be brought in to the coaching setup to replace Buvac.
18 min: Kante shows his value in midfield by tracking Mane half the length of the pitch before sliding in to halt a Liverpool counter-attack. Mane did dawdle on the ball somewhat after an unnecessary stepover though.
17 min: Alonso stings Karius’s palms from 20 yards with a sweetly struck shot. This is better from Chelsea. The chance came after Alexander-Arnold got caught out of position after trying to cover for Clyne.
15 min: Moses cuts the ball back on the right in Chelsea’s first proper attack. With the chance to fire at goal from the penalty spot both Bakayoko and Giroud get in each other’s way. Giroud is furious. Liverpool break but nothing comes of the counter-attack.
13 min: Chelsea just can’t get going. They’ve been sloppy in possession when they reached Liverpool’s half. You would think Chelsea had been the team who had played in an energy-sapping semi-final in midweek, not Liverpool. Giroud is caught late by Clyne. He lets out a huge shriek as the Liverpool full-back’s studs land on the top of his foot. That could have been a booking too. Giroud’s OK though.
10 min: Firmino breaks clear and tries to release Salah behind the Chelsea defence but his pass is either underhit or holds up on the turf. Another dry pitch? Klopp would love that. And then Milner clatters into Hazard and is lucky to escape a booking. He slid right through him late there.
8 min: Clyne and Alexander-Arnold trade passes on the right and the youngster whips a ball in to the back post but it’s too deep. Chelsea are playing like a team who need a point here. They need a win. They seem very happy for Liverpool to have the ball. Late smash-and-grab tactics?
6 min: Chelsea just can’t get into this game at the moment. Liverpool look extremely comfortable in possession. Taking their time as they move forwards. Chelsea are very compact though. Space isn’t easy to find when Liverpool get into the final third.
4 min: Alexander-Arnold curls the ball round the back of the Chelsea defence for Firmino to run on to. It’s a lovely ball. Firmino gets a yard on Cahill and then rifles a shot from 15 yards at Courtois, who parries and then smothers at the second attempt. This has been a strong start by Liverpool.
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2 min: Liverpool enjoy a bit of early possession, knocking the ball around at the back under very little pressure and then into midfield. I’m not sure Chelsea have had a touch yet.
1 min: Peep! We’re off. Liverpool get the game under way. They are shooting from left to right on my TV. Chelsea are going the other way.
There is a minute’s applause for Roy Bentley, the former Chelsea captain, who died recently at the age of 93. He played over 300 games for Chelsea.
The teams are out. Chelsea in blue and Liverpool in red, as it should be. And it’s a lovely, warm spring day at Stamford Bridge. Perfect.
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It’s almost time for kick-off. For some reason Mike Buffer, the boxing announcer, has just been warbling a rally-cry on the sidelines. Pipe down Mike.
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Antonio Conte speaks: “We are trying to fight until the end to get a place in the Champions League. We won the last three games and we have only one option – to win and to keep the hope alive. But it won;t be easy because we know the situation is not in our hands. We know very well if we don;t win today this race is finished.
On coping with Liverpool’s attack, Conte says: “We are talking about a team who, if they have space, they are very good. We must be very compact. With the ball, we must try to be dangerous.” On not selecting Morata he says he is injured but he should be back for the next game.
Jurgen Klopp speaks about this match: “It’s a semi-final[*]. Unfortunately how it is we have a strong opponent and we have a big job to do. Chelsea are a good side. It will be hard work.” On how his team will be physically after their efforts in Rome. “I hope we are 100%. Big decisions are always made at the end of the season. If we want to perform we have to deal with that. Wednesday-Sunday (recovery) is really OK.” *It’s not a semi-final.
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The awful news that Alex Ferguson suffered a brain hemorrhage yesterday has shocked many this weekend. Jurgen Klopp has just been speaking about the former Manchester United manager’s huge standing in the game. “He was one of the biggest role models in this business. It was a big shock. From what I have heard – and I don’t know any more than anybody else – it looks like he is on his way to recovery but we all want to send our best wishes to Alex from LFC.” The Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, echoed Klopp’s comments wishing Ferguson a speedy recovery.
And our chief football correspondent, Daniel Taylor, has written this fine piece about Ferguson. Get well soon Alex.
Mohamed Salah will need four goals from Liverpool’s three remaining matches to equal Ian Rush’s record haul of 47 in the 1983-84 season. Rush reached that magnificent figure in 65 games. Salah has scored 43 in 50 so far for Liverpool. Incredible.
So two strong teams then, with Liverpool fielding their usual front three and only resting one player in midfield, with Trent Alexander-Arnold moving into the middle to take the place of Jordan Henderson, and Nathaniel Clyne coming in at right-back.
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The teams
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Rudiger, Moses, Fabregas, Kante, Bakayoko, Alonso, Hazard, Giroud. Subs: Caballero, Barkley, Pedro, Zappacosta, Willian, Christensen, Emerson.
Liverpool: Karius, Clyne, Lovren, van Dijk, Robertson, Milner, Alexander-Arnold, Wijnaldum, Salah, Firmino, Mane. Subs: Henderson, Klavan, Moreno, Mignolet, Ings, Solanke, Woodburn.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire)
Preamble
Afternoon. Let’s get straight to the point: Liverpool need one of them to secure a tour-four spot and Champions League football next season. If Chelsea win, they keep their top-four hopes alive – especially so given that Spurs lost yesterday – but to take Liverpool’s place in the top four they would need wins against Huddersfield and Newcastle as well as requiring Klopp’s side to lose or draw at home against Brighton on the final day. So their hopes are still slim but with most of the Premier League teams now playing for very little at least something is riding on this.
A Liverpool draw or win would enable Klopp’s side to power down until the 26 May, when they face Real Madrid in Kiev, and recent post-European Premier League games suggest a draw is likely. They’ve drawn 0-0 against Everton, 2-2 with West Brom and 0-0 with Stoke after Champions League matches. But Chelsea are in their best form since early September, having won four games on the bounce and would like to stretch that to five here.
The last time the two sides met, in November at Anfield, Mo Salah scored for Liverpool (well, who else?) before Willian equalised for Chelsea with what appeared to be a cross. Liverpool would take the same result again here.
My prediction: Chelsea 2-2 Liverpool
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