That’s all folks. I’ll leave you with Jacob Steinberg’s report from Stamford Bridge.
Moises Caicedo’s reaction
It was fantastic [to win it so late] and we are so happy. Everybody knows Liverpool are a fantastic team. We were so good at the end.
[In adversity] you have to be even closer and we have been working so hard every day.
[On his goal] God is perfect, everything is for him. I had the opportunity to shoot and I did it! When I shot I knew it was going in. It was a fantastic feeling.
[Is the win even more special because you could have joined Liverpool?] No, no. It was a great goal but it’s nothing against Liverpool. I’m enjoying it here and doing well, that’s the important thing.
Marc Cucurella’s reaction
In general I think we deserved the win. We’ve had a tough week so this moment was amazing.
We scored early, started to gain confidence and overall it was a very good game.
[On the impact of Chelsea’s defensive injuries] It’s not easy but it’s not an excuse – we have the quality, we play for a big team and we showed that today.
[On Chelsea targeting Liverpool’s right side] Salah is always ready to counter-attack so the manager told us the space could be there. Today it worked.
[On Estevao] He came into the game with a lot of personality. [Jorrel] Hato as well came on when there was lot of intensity and a lot of transitions. I think these two players deserve this game; they showed their equality.
Moises Caicedo’s screamer was his third goal of the Premier League season, which puts him joint fifth in the race (sic) for the golden boot.
The updated Premier League table
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 7 | 11 | 16 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 7 | 4 | 15 |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 7 | 8 | 14 |
| 4 | AFC Bournemouth | 7 | 3 | 14 |
| 5 | Crystal Palace | 6 | 5 | 12 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| 7 | Sunderland | 7 | 1 | 11 |
| 8 | Man City | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| 9 | Man Utd | 7 | -2 | 10 |
| 10 | Everton | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| 11 | Brighton | 6 | 0 | 8 |
| 12 | Fulham | 7 | -3 | 8 |
| 13 | Leeds | 7 | -4 | 8 |
| 14 | Brentford | 6 | -2 | 7 |
| 15 | Newcastle | 6 | -1 | 6 |
| 16 | Aston Villa | 6 | -2 | 6 |
| 17 | Nottm Forest | 6 | -5 | 5 |
| 18 | Burnley | 6 | -7 | 4 |
| 19 | West Ham | 7 | -10 | 4 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 6 | -9 | 1 |
Liverpool have lost three in a row, two of them to injury-time goals, but Chelsea deserve so much credit for their performance. They had to survive more injuries and a very rocky period after Cody Gakpo’s equaliser, but composed themselves and were the better team in a ding-dong finish. The Brazilian teenager Estevao was a constant threat after coming on in the 75th minute and settled the match with an injury-time winner. He cannot stop smiling as he walks round the pitch saluting the Chelsea fans.
Full time: Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
That’s it! A quite brilliant victory for injury-ravaged Chelsea!
Maresca sent off
90+7 min Enzo Maresca was given a second yellow card for that celebration. I assume/hope he could not care less.
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Estevao has made such a difference since coming on in the second half. Enzo Fernandez guided a simple pass into the area for Cucurella, who swept a superb first-time cross on the turn towards the far post. Robertson was slightly on his heels – details, details – and Estevao forced the ball into the net from a tight angle.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool (Estevao 90+5)
Estevao has scored and Enzo Maresca is charging down the touchline to join the celebrations!
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90+4 min: Chance for Liverpool!
Szoboszlai feeds the ball infield from the right towards Ekitike. His brilliant dummy allows the ball to run through to Jones, who moves into the area but blasts wide from a tightish angle. Decent chance.
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90+3 min Estevao has a chance to put Fernandez through on goal but overhits what looked a fairly routine pass.
90+2 min There are seven minutes of added time by the way.
90+1 min: Fernandez hits the post!
Chelsea come so close to nicking a winner. Estevao, who has had a big impact from the bench, curls a superb inswinging cross to the far post, where Fernandez gets the run on Szoboszlai, six yards out, and slams a header off the outside of the post.
If anything Fernandez was moving too fast. By the time the ball arrived he had to lean slightly away from goal to meet it.
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90 min Liverpool break from the resulting Chelsea corner. Eventually Szoboszlai drives a few yards wide from distance; a decent effort but Sanchez was never in trouble.
89 min Szoboszlai makes a vital recovery tackle on Gittens, who would otherwise have been through on goal after terrific play from Hato and Lavia; then Caicedo swishes a shot from 25 yards that is touched over the bar by Mamardashvili. A comfortable enough save that time.
86 min: Liverpool substitution Endo replaces Alexis Mac Allister.
85 min Estevao plays a short through pass to Guiu, who overruns it slightly and is beaten to the loose ball by Mamardashvili. In Guiu’s defence he was under pressure from a defender so it wasn’t an easy ball to control softly.
84 min Gittens swishes a no-backlift shot from 25 yards that is pushed away to his left by the diving Mamardashvili. Moments later he makes a better save, flying to his right to push round an extravagant curler from Estevao.
You’d expect a keeper of Mamardashvili’s quality to stop both shots but the second save in particular was good.
83 min “Madonna?!” says Peter Oh. “What, is she a True Blue?”
82 min Arne Slot is booked for complaining about an unpunished challenge on Gakpo.
81 min At the other end Wirtz (I think) and then Szoboszlai have shots blocked. This won’t finish 1-1.
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80 min: Chelsea go close A very dangerous low cross from Gittens is stabbed just wide of the far post by Gravenberch, who was facing his own goal and felt he had to go for the ball.
79 min Szoboszlai is booked for a strange hack at Cucurella. It looked bad live, but replays showed he booted the ball off Cucurella and then collided with him in his follow through. Oh well, it’s done now.
78 min Chelsea were rocking for a while but they’re having a better spell now. It’s anyone’s game.
76 min Estevao’s fast cross from a narrow position is met by Guiu, whose header is blocked at source. Lavia then wins a corner on the right. Chelsea take it short and eventually Estevao wins another corner.
75 min: Triple substitution for Chelsea Marc Guiu, Jamie Gittens and Estevao replace Joao Pedro, Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho.
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74 min: Liverpool substitution Hugo Ekitike replaces Alexander Isak, who had a quiet game but made Gakpo’s equaliser with a fluky/magnificent touch.
73 min Now Isak goes down holding his face in the Chelsea area after a challenge with James. It looked like a handoff, nothing more, and Isak probably fouled James first.
No sanction, and in fact that’s Isak’s last touch of the match.
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72 min Turns out Madonna (no relation) is in the crowd at Stamford Bridge. “What’s she eating?” says Gary Neville for some reason.
71 min Gakpo lays the ball back lovingly towards the onrushing Mac Allister, whose sizzling shot from distance is blocked by James.
Chelsea, without six centre-backs now, are hanging.
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70 min Neto goes down off the ball after a collision with Mac Allister. No idea what happened but Neto is holding his face as play continues. VAR have cleared it.
68 min: Chelsea substitution This is bonkers. Chelsea have lost another centre-back, the teenager Josh Acheampong, to injury. Jorrel Hato replaces him.
66 min Salah curls wastefully high and wide after another good Liverpool break. He was offside so it wouldn’t have counted, but it was another unusually poor effort.
65 min Now Liverpool are going for the kill, pinning Chelsea in their half as Arne Slot roars encouragement from the touchline.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool (Gakpo 63)
Liverpool’s desperation pays off. Szoboszlai’s deflected cross from the byline drops towards Isak, who cushions the ball flukily/ingeniously around the corner towards the onrushing Gakpo. He gets there first, ahead of Gusto, and wallops the ball past Sanchez from close range.
If Isak meant that assist, it was a touch of borderline genius.
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62 min Liverpool are playing with a desperation usually reserved for the last 10 or 15 minutes. Not sure whether that’s a good or bad thing but it’s certainly noticeable.
Chelsea look increasingly dangerous in transition, so maybe it’s not a good thing. A wicked inswinging cross from Neto just evades the man at the far post, Garnacho I presumably. Szoboszlai did enough to put him off.
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59 min The impressive Garnacho moves infield from the left, then reverses a pass to the overlapping Cucurella. He stands up a deep cross to Neto, whose header hits Robertson and goes behind.
In the circumstances – one point from three league games, injuries galore – Chelsea have been terrific today.
58 min Sanchez drives an outstanding long pass out to Garnacho on the left. He leaves Szoboszlai for dust and slides a low ball that goes right across the face of the Liverpool goal.
Just before that, an animated Reece James was showing his shinpad/sock to Anthony Taylor in reference to a challenge from Gakpo (I think) a couple of minutes later. We’ve not seen a replay but there was no suggestion of VAR involvement.
57 min “Last season the pundits claimed it was a dull title race,” says Tim Woods. “This year we decide to give the others a sporting chance and they moan about that as well! Honestly, there’s no pleasing some people. Oh, and Darwin Nunez would have buried that Isak header. As would Andy Carroll.”
I offer you Michael Gordon Harford.
56 min: Liverpool substitutions Andy Robertson and Curtis Jones replace Milos Kerkez and Ibrahima Konate. Those subs mean we have to unlikely back fours on the field.
Chelsea Gusto, James, Acheampong, Cucurella.
Liverpool Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Van Dijk, Robertson.
55 min: Chelsea substitution Benoit Badiashile limps off to be replaced by Romeo Lavia. Malo Gusto will move to right back and Reece James to centre back.
54 min Badiashile is down and needs treatment. Chelsea are already without four centre-backs so this isn’t exactly what Enzo Maresca needs.
53 min Salah runs onto a long pass down the right, then veers infield with intent. He runs across the line of the penalty area, beats Badiashile but curls high and wide.
52 min At the other end Joao Pedro has a long-range shot blocked by a defender.
51 min Gravenberch has a pop from 22 yards. It’s well struck but straight at Sanchez who holds on securely.
49 min Liverpool have started the second half with greater urgency, as you’d expect. Chelsea respond with a longish spell of possession designed to lower the heart rate of the game.
46 min: Great chance for Salah!
Wirtz almost makes an equaliser with his first touch. Gakpo played a slightly imprecise square pass to Wirtz, who improvised brilliantly to flick it behind his standing leg and put Salah through on goal. Salah shot wide of the near post under pressure.
That chance came 18 seconds into the second half.
46 min Peep peep! Chelsea get the second half under way.
Wirtz comes on at half-time
Liverpool substitution Florian Wirtz replaces Conor Bradley, who was booked and looked a bit vulnerable against Alejandro Garnacho. That means Dominik Szoboszlai will move to right-back.
Half-time reading
Half time: Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool
Chelsea lead at Stamford Bridge through a heatseeker from Moises Caicedo, and for large parts of the the first half they were in control against a disjointed opponent.
A Liverpool response may be forthcoming in the second half.
45 min Bradley, who has been booked, fouls the lively Garnacho. Careful now.
There will be two minutes of added time.
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44 min: Chance for Isak!
A warning to Chelsea. Salah waves a majestic cross with the outside of the boot that clears Acheampong and is headed over the bar by Isak, 10 yards out. Not a sitter but any means for Isak, but a decent opportunity.
43 min Although Chelsea have been the better team, we shouldn’t overstate their dominance – the only shot on target at either end was Caicedo’s spectacular goal.
40 min Szoboszlai took a bit of a risk but there wasn’t enough contact to justify a penalty, and certainly not for VAR to suggest overturning the original decision.
39 min: Chelsea penalty appeal
Garnacho escapes Szoboszlai in the penalty area, then goes over after a slight touch on the back. Anthony Taylor says no penalty and VAR supports the decision.
Enzo Maresca is booked for his protests.
38 min Chelsea take the resulting corner short before working an intricate passing move. Eventually Cucurella tees up Garnacho, who curls a shot just wide from the edge of the area. Mamardashvili didn’t move.
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37 min A superb run from Neto ends with a low cross that is turned behind for a corner by the off balance Konate.
36 min Acheampong makes an emphatic tackle on Isak just inside his own half, then strides all the way to the edge of the Liverpool area before trying a pass that is blocked. He’s started excellently.
34 min Bradley is booked for pulling back Cucurella.
33 min Gakpo threads an excellent pass to find Kerkez in the area. He tries to find Salah at the far post and Cucurella boots the ball clear.
That was probably the best option for Kerkez, though he could have taken a shot himself from a tight angle.
32 min Liverpool have no rhythm at all in possession. They’re really struggling.
27 min Salah moves promisingly into the area, only to run straight into Enzo Fernandez. Weird to say this about a player of Salah’s ability and mental strength, but he needs a goal for his confidence.
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26 min A free-kick from Neto is headed away as far as Gusto, whose mishit volley from 25 yards is blocked. Neto then swings in a cross that is claimed with authority by Mamardashvili.
23 min Liverpool have been a bit scruffy since the goal, that Szoboszlai chance notwithstanding, and Chelsea are enjoying plenty of possession
20 min “I fear David Hindle is inadvertently disproving his own point,” says Matt Dony. “Suarez played well enough, but only scored four goals in his first half season (after arriving in January), and only 11 league goals in his first full season. (He did hit the post an improbable number of times, though. I think he set a record!)
“It was only really after a year at Liverpool he became the force of nature we knew and loved(!). Wirtz isn’t personally responsible for the insane price tag. He has plenty of time to adjust and come good. I’d say Slot has earned an awful lot of trust and patience with fans.”
I’ll defer to your superior everything but I remember thinking during the 3-1 win over Man Utd, maybe six weeks after he signed, that Suarez might be touched with genius. But the broader point is you could make a helluvan XI out of players who struggled early on after making a big-money move.
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19 min: Chance for Liverpool
Gakpo surges into the area in the inside-left channel and cuts the ball back carefully towards Szoboszlai eight yards out. He opens his body to sidefoot a first-time shot that is crucially blocked by Badiashile.
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17 min Mac Allister was also partially at fault for the goal. He tried to nick a short pass from Gusto to Caicedo, couldn’t quite get to it and that allowed Caicedo to move into the space he had vacated. Details, details.
Moises Caicedo has given Chelsea the lead with a roof-raiser. It came, sort of, from an error by Mamaradashvili, who received an awkward pass from Van Dijk and played a loose return ball that Van Dijk could only chest out of play for a throw-in.
Chelsea recycled possession and quickly moved the ball forward to Caicedo. He lost Mac Allister, ran at a backpedalling defence and arrowed a shot into the top corner from 22 yards. Mamardashvili got a slight touch, diving to his right, but in truth he did well to manage that. It was a screamer.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool (Caicedo 14)
Pick that blighter out!
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10 min Nothing to report so far with Giorgi Mamardashvili. He was pressed very early on, in his own six-yard box, but looked unperturbed and passed the ball calmly across to Conor Bradley.
If Euro 2024 is anything to go by, Mamardashvili is disgustingly overqualified for the job of back-up goalkeeper.
8 min Kerkez wins the first corner of the game for Liverpool. Gakpo clips it in, Sanchez muffs his punch and the ball runs across the area to safety. The referee had blown for a foul on Sanchez anyway.
6 min Gusto fails to control Badiashile’s angled pass over the top after making a good run off the ball. Mac Allister was getting back anyway and Gusto might have been offside.
5 min A fairly cagey start. Liverpool have had more of the ball but there’s nothing in it really.
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2 min Chelsea have started with Reece James at right-back and Malo Gusto in midfield, which is a bit of a surprise. This is their revised line-up.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1ish) Sanchez; James, Acheampong, Badiashile, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo; Neto, Enzo, Garnacho; Joao Pedro.
1 min Peep peep! Liverpool kick off from left to right as we watch.
“The problem with ‘but he’s a nice guy’ (Wirtz) is that he is also a very expensive footballer and has to produce on the field,” writes David Hindle. “Luis Suarez, splutter, cough, splutter, was not most people’s definition of a charmer. But he produced a heck of a lot of goals, and took to the game in England like a duck to water. If you gave fans the choice right now....well, you know which way it would go.”
He’s been there two months though. Remember Thierry Henry’s first two months at Arsenal? We’ve all gone mad.
Arsenal beat West Ham 2-0 at the Emirates to move above Liverpool, at least for a couple of hours. This is how the Premier League table looks right here, right now.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 7 | 11 | 16 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 6 | 5 | 15 |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 7 | 8 | 14 |
| 4 | AFC Bournemouth | 7 | 3 | 14 |
| 5 | Crystal Palace | 6 | 5 | 12 |
| 6 | Sunderland | 7 | 1 | 11 |
| 7 | Man City | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| 8 | Man Utd | 7 | -2 | 10 |
| 9 | Chelsea | 6 | 3 | 8 |
| 10 | Everton | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| 11 | Brighton | 6 | 0 | 8 |
| 12 | Fulham | 7 | -3 | 8 |
| 13 | Leeds | 7 | -4 | 8 |
| 14 | Brentford | 6 | -2 | 7 |
| 15 | Newcastle | 6 | -1 | 6 |
| 16 | Aston Villa | 6 | -2 | 6 |
| 17 | Nottm Forest | 6 | -5 | 5 |
| 18 | Burnley | 6 | -7 | 4 |
| 19 | West Ham | 7 | -10 | 4 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 6 | -9 | 1 |
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And Enzo Maresca’s
It’s nice [to play Liverpool]. It’s a chance to learn and we’ve prepared as best we can.
[On Chelsea’s injuries] Nine players are unfortunately out, plus we have two or three players [who are carrying injuries*] We will try to find solutions and hopefully we can have a good day – for us and for the fans.
* Including Moises Caicedo and Joao Pedro.
Arne Slot’s pre-match thoughts
[On Giorgi Mamardashvili’s Premier League debut] In the last two games, Ali [Alisson] was involved more than I would like. Giorgi did very well against Southampton so it’s not his first start for us – he’s an experienced goalkeeper and he’s in a good place.
[On the inclusion of Cody Gakpo ahead of Florian Wirtz] We have a lot of games, and you see around the world that teams have to change one or two players. Then before the game starts you try to decide what is the best fit for that particular player. You can’t compare the playing style of Chelsea with the playing style of Crystal Palace.
“On the subject of Florian Wirtz, for anyone who hasn’t seen, Sky has just posted a lovely collection of interviews with some of his former friends and coaches,” writes Maximilian Sanderson. “Here in Germany he is loved and memed in almost equal measure (the latter affectionately so, and mostly thanks to his viral potato ranking video during the Euros), so I didn’t fully know what to expect, but he seems like a genuinely decent guy with a good support network around him. He might not be starting tonight but I reckon it won’t be long before the goals start to flow...”
If he’s so good, why didn’t he score 44 goals in his first five games? Eh?
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A Liverpool fan writes
“Having spent nearly f-o-u-r hours making the one-hour journey to my mother-in-law’s, I’m not in the best of moods,” chirps Matt Dony. “Thanks, M4 closures. Big help. Nothing quite like crawling through Port Talbot at below walking pace.
“Anyway. If this was last year, I’d have been fairly confident. Well, not confident exactly. I don’t think I’ve ever been genuinely confident before a football match. But I’d have been a lot more relaxed than I am now. The late goals have been tremendous fun, but wildly unsustainable. The performances have had their moments, but we’re still in the waiting-to-click phase.
“You never wish ill on players, but I’m relieved to be facing Chelsea minus Cole Palmer. Even so, I’m not counting on still being top of the league in a few hours time. And on Wirtz being benched; It’s the earliest of early days. He’s an astonishingly talented footballer, and I liked everything I saw of him last season. Still, I can’t help but remember watching Naby Keita tear it up for Leipzig…”
On Wirtz, the Pires Principle dictates that any judgement on creative players who are new to English football should be deferred until their second season.
Emphasis on ‘should’, because there is overwhelming evidence to suggest we’ve all gone completely mad.
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Has Arne Slot taken Liverpool as far as he can?
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Read Barney Ronay on Florian Wirtz
Cause and effect latest
Team news: Wirtz on the bench
The teenager Josh Acheampong replaces the suspended Trevoh Chalobah in the Chelsea defence. That’s one of four changes from the side that started last weekend’s 3-1 defeat at home to Brighton. Benoit Badiashile, Malo Gusto and Alejandro Garnacho come in for Jarrel Hato, Andrey Santos (who is injured) and Estevao. That means Reece James is likely to start in midfield.
Giorgi Mamardashvili, who was probably the best goalkeeper at Euro 2024, deputises for the injured Alisson. Arene Slot makes one other change, with Cody Gakpo preferred to Florian Wirtz in attack. Wirtz is part of a formidable Liverpool subs bench.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Sanchez; Gusto, Acheampong, Badiashile, Cucurella; James, Caicedo; Neto, Enzo, Garnacho; Joao Pedro.
Substitutes: Jorgensen, Slonina, Hato, Lavia, Emenalo, Buonanotte, Estevao, Gittens, Guiu.
Liverpool (4-3-3) Mamardashvili; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Isak, Gakpo.
Substitutes: Woodman, Gomez, Endo, Wirtz, Chiesa, Jones, Ekitike, Robertson, Frimpong.
Referee Anthony Taylor.
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Preamble
The world champions meet the English champions at Stamford Bridge tonight, but nobody will be talking about the glories of the recent past. Chelsea and Liverpool are both in contention for the Premier League Crisis Baton™ – passed each week to the team that a hysterical media deems to be in crisis – after suffering a dip in form towards the end of September.
Chelsea have taken only one point from their last three Premier League games. Liverpool have lost their last two in all competitions and didn’t even play that well in the seven straight wins before that.
In times of trouble, tough games are a mixed blessing. Enzo Maresca and Arne Slot know that, if they win tonight, the negative chatter will stop just like that. But if they lose, the external noise will be amplified.
Kick off 5.30pm.
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