After conceding stoppage-time winner to Crystal Palace, Liverpool succumb to late goal again in 1-2 loss to Chelsea; title race wide open with Arsenal on top
Liverpool’s Alexis MacAllister tries to shield the ball from Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez during their EPL tie in London on Saturday. Pic/AFP
Liverpool crashed to a third successive defeat as Estevao Willian’s last-gasp strike condemned the spluttering English Premier League champions to a 1-2 defeat against Chelsea on Saturday. Arne Slot’s side were rocked by Estevao’s close-range finish in the final seconds at Stamford Bridge after Cody Gakpo’s second-half equaliser (63rd min) had cancelled out Moises Caicedo’s brilliant opener (14th min) for the Blues.
After making a perfect start to the season with seven wins in all competitions, including five in the Premier League, Liverpool have suffered an unexpected blip with shock defeats at Crystal Palace, Galatasaray and Chelsea. Reds boss Arne Slot, once again, lamented the small margins that didn’t go Liverpool’s way, but admitted that the team must work harder in order to seal results outright.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot
Last season we lost against Chelsea as well. Stamford Bridge is always difficult. We were very close to a result. Small margins,” Slot said. “As I said, at Galatasaray, we had a one-v-one then they get a penalty. We conceded in extra, extra time against Palace. And then today they score a goal that could go at either end. These are the margins that don’t fall for us at the moment. We have to work harder to not rely on these margins,” he added.
The result meant that they surrendered first place to Arsenal (16pts), who climbed one point above them by beating West Ham 2-0, earlier in the day. Meanwhile, Chelsea’s assistant coach, Willy Caballero, standing in for Enzo Maresca — he was shown a red card for sprinting to the corner flag after Estevao’s winner — gave credit to the intense atmosphere created by the home fans in the last half an hour which, he believes, played a big part in the result.
“In the last 30 minutes, the whole crowd was pushing, living the game. That environment, which is nasty for the away team, gives us a little bit more legs or wings to run in the last couple of minutes,” explained Caballero.
Other Results
Newcastle 2-0 Notts Forest
Aston Villa 2-1 Burnley
Everton 2-1 Crystal Palace
Wolves 1-1 Brighton
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