Chelsea 1 : 0 Liverpool
by Steve Clare, Stamford Bridge
Chelsea secured a confidence boosting win over Liverpool on a sweltering afternoon in West London. Olivier Giroud’s header in the 32nd minute split the sides in a lively encounter. The loss ends Liverpool’s pursuit of Manchester United in second place, and ensures a Manchester 1 and 2 in this season’s EPL.
Both today’s sides have cup finals to look forward to later this month. Chelsea will try and emulate their female teammates by winning the FA Cup at Wembley and Liverpool will tackle Real Madrid in the Champions League final in Kiev looking for greater glory.
Despite the heat, the match was slow to get warmed up. Chelsea’s first serious attack came in 15 minutes but Marcos Alonso fired straight at Pool keeper Loris Karius.
Liverpool’s second threat came in the 17th minute when only a fine tackle by Cesc Fabregas halted the surging Sadio Mane. 14 minutes earlier Mane had forced a fine save out of Courtois and 14 minutes later, he forced an better one from the Belgian goalkeeper.
The turning point came just after the hour mark.
Giroud’s jump was perfectly timed, and he twisted his body in the air to deliver a perfectly looped header beyond Loris Karius from a pinpoint Victor Moses right wing cross.
Alexander-Arnold blasted over before N’Golo Kante blasted even higher over as wayward finishing wasted good set up play for both sides. In the 65th minute, Victor Moses was Chelsea’s most potent threat. He charged half the way down the pitch and then ran out of steam at one point and delivered another spectacular cross eleven minutes from the end, which Alonso volleyed beautifully with enormous style and zero accuracy.
Davide Zappacosta, Willian and Pedro replaced Eden Hazard, Moses and Fabregas which assisted Chelsea in running down the clock and closing the game out, although Dominic Solanke headed a good chance over for the visitors in stoppage time.
Jurgen Klopp was pleased about everything except the goal and had no issue with Salah’s booking for diving. He did point out that the last two matches had seen Salah face former teammates.
Chelsea coach Antonio Conte admitted that he had given up hope of a Champions League place:
“A month ago, it seemed impossible that we would challenge for the Champions League.”
Chelsea move to 69 points, three behind Liverpool who only have one league game left. Spurs on 71 split them. The Reds’ loss secures second place for Manchester United, but the season defining moments for Liverpool and Chelsea are yet to come.
EPL Top Half as of May 6
