Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool live: report, goals from Stamford Bridge
A dominant Liverpool brushed aside Chelsea 2-1 with goals from Dejan Lovren and Jordan Henderson halting the London side's unbeaten run in the Premier League.
Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool: as it happened
A dominant Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Friday, goals from Dejan Lovren and Jordan Henderson halting the London side's unbeaten run in the Premier League.
Liverpool's midfield bossed the game from the start and in the 17th minute Philippe Coutinho launched the ball towards a clutch of unmarked Liverpool players at the far post. Lovren ran in from deep to volley home with the Chelsea defence static.
A glorious piece of skill in the 36th minute underlined Liverpool's superiority. An attempted clearance from defender Gary Cahill fell to Henderson 30 metres out and the midfielder dipped a shot into the top corner of the net past the leaping Thibaut Courtois.
Chelsea looked brighter in the second half and got one back when the Premier League's top scorer Diego Costa was on hand to prod the ball into the net from a goal-line Nemanja Matic pass in the 61st minute for his fifth of the season.
Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool: Full time
Min 93 | Martin Atkinson calls time .... 3 points for Liverpool and smiles all round from Jurgen Klopp
Min 93 | Chelsea just firing hopeful balls into the area. A night to forget at Stamford Bridge for all CFC fans.
Min 92 | Liver-pooool, Liver-pooool rings out the chant from the 3.000 travelling fans as they sense a big three points
Min 90 | Stewart on for Wijnaldum ...another change from Klopp
Min 88 | David Luiz to take... he leaves it for Cesc who fires the ball into the Liverpool area
Min 87 | Chelsea applying some late pressure and win a freekick right on the edge of the opposition area. Another late show from the Blues?
Min 85 | Chelsea have five minutes left to salvage something from this game and avoid their first defeat of the 2016/17 league campaign
Willian, Oscar and Matic the three players to make way for the subs.
Min 84 | It's actually a triple change for Chelsea as Pedro, Cesc and Moses come on for the home side
Min 81 | What a save from Courtois as Origi heads downwards and the Belgian keeper manages to get down to push the ball away from the danger zone.
Min 80 | Changes for both sides: Pedro on for the home side and Lucas on for Klopp with Coutinho making way.
Min 78 | Liverpool have managed to re-address the Chelsea pressure and the patter is more akin to that of the first half. The Reds now looking composed and the home side offering little of attacking threat.
Min 75 | Possession (game) CFC 55% v LFC 45%
Min 73 | Still zero movement from the Chelsea bench as the game heads towards it's final 15'.
Min 71 | Less than 20 to go at the Bridge. Liverpool seem to have weathered the post goal storm and have managed to claw their way back into the game. Klopp did have the team sitting very deep after the break and this invited Chelsea pressure.
Min 69 | Oscar fouls Henderson in a dangerous area and from the resulting free-kick Ivanovic is forced to head clear for a corner to the men in red.
Min 66 | What a difference a goal makes .... Liverpool are somewhat shell-shocked by the Costa goal and have lost that hard veneer they displayed up to the moment of the Chelsea goal.
Seventh goal of the season for the Brazilian born Chelsea striker.
The goal has also woken the home support up after 62 minutes of relative silence as the Blues fans break into song.
Game on ...great work from Matic and Hazard, linking up well in an acute angle and an easy tap home for Chelsea's Spanish international.
Min 61 | Costa pulls one back for The Blues!
Min 60 | Oscar not having a great night in the centre of the Chelsea midfield. Surprisng to see Conte not ready to shuffle his pack yet
Possession in the second half CFC 67% v LFC 33%
Min 58 | Klopp makes a change as Origi comes on for Sturridge
Min 56 | A half hearted appeal from Chelsea as Ivanovic falls in the area. Mr Atkinson is having none of it and tells the Serbian to get up.
Min 54 | A difficult scoreline so far for David Luiz on his first game back at Stamford Bridge, though the Brazilian is putting in a battling performance for The Blues
Min 52 | Better from Chelsea with Hazard (playing now in a more central role) lashes in a whipped cross with Mingolet pushes out in to open play.
Min 50 | Liverpool still looking the hungrier of the two teams, battling for every breaking ball and playing with an added determination that the home side surprisingly lack this evening.
Min 47 | Conte looking on with a surprisingly calm demeanor, time for Cesc possibly going around his head....
Min 46 | Off we go again with the visitors starting the second period
Chelsea 0-2 Liverpool: Half time analysis:
What has happened to Chelsea tonight? An absolutely lethargic first half from a team being touted as many as serious title contenders and plenty for Antonio Conte to address at the break. A solid display from Jurgen Klopp's men and a wonder-strike from Jordan Henderson making for a great evening at the West London ground for the 3.000 travelling Liverpool fans.
Chelsea 0-2 Liverpool: End of the first half
Min 45 | Card for Willian for protesting as Mr. Martin Atkinson calls time on proceedings.
Min 43 | A flash of danger from Diego Costa as he reaches the byline and wins his side a corner. Once again little danger from the resulting dead-ball from the Willian corner.
Min 41 | Plenty for Conte to consider at the interval. Without doubt the poorest half under his guidance at the West London club as the only noise at the ground is being made from the travelling supporters.
Min 39 | David Luiz latches on a to a corner to swing a header at the Liverpool goal. Sadly for the Brazilian the ball was never troubling Mingolet.
An absolute blockbuster from the Liverpool No. 14 with the archetypal "top corner" strike from 25 yards. Goal of the month ?
Min 36 | Henderson with a pile driver !!!!!! Reds two up !
Min 35 | Better from Chelsea in the last few minutes with more possession and Willain and Hazard getting more ball. Just one shot on target for CFC
Min 33 | Willlian delivery and flick on from Luiz that drifts wide. The Brazilian was poorly marked on that set piece from the Liverpool back line
Min 32 | Possession CFC 46% v 54% LFC
Min 30 | Willian wins a corner for the home side and the fans start to get behind their side, Mingolet makes a meal of the corner but the defence manages to clear their lines
Min 27 | Diego Costa gets on the ball (possibly for the first time tonight) and Kante has been anonymous for Chelsea so far this evening. Liverpool extremely comfortable and that will make Conte very very annoyed !
Min 26 | Matic manages to fore at the opposition goal but the shot was well snuffed out by the Red rear-guard
Min 25 | More danger from Liverpool again as Sturridge flashes a shot cum cross across the face of the Chelsea goal.
Min 24 | "When the Reds go matching in" & "We love you Liverpool, we do" are the only chants audible at the Bridge at the moment. Chelsea fans with little to sing about tonight.
Min 22 | The goal doesn't seem to have had any impact on the pattern of the game with Liverpool still controlling the match.
Min 20 | Hints of offside on the goal being cited but with the benefit of repeats the Bosnian was clearly on side when the ball was delivered from Coutinho.
Still sporting his black eye, the Bosnian broke the offside trap to volley past Courtois from a Coutinho assist. The goal had been coming as Chelsea have started uncharacteristically lethargic.
Min 17 | Goooooooool. Lovren puts The Reds ahead
Min 15 | Possession: CFC 49% vs 51% LFC
Min 13 | First corner of the night for the Reds.... Henderson delivers and the ball eventually breaks back to the corner taker who volleys over
Min 11 | Liverpool certainly having the better of the first spell. Klopp's side managing to retain possession for more prolonged spells
Min 9 | Bouts of sustained possession from both sides but nothing resembling a chance yet to be carved from either team
Min 6 | Chelsea have started slowly but now getting into the rhythm together with Kante and Hazard the creative outlets
Min 4 | Early possession with Klopp's side with Mane looking busy for the visitors
Min 2 | Early trickery from Willian at one end as Sturridge unleashes a drive on goal which Courtois smothers at the second attempt.
Min 1 | The Blues get us underway at Stamford Bridge
It's 2nd vs. 6th. Conte's side could go top of the table with a win
The teams take to the pitch at a packed Stamford Bridge on a mild 16C September evening in West London.
Chelsea - Liverpool confirmed starting teams:
Chelsea starting XI:
Courtois; Ivanovic (c), Cahill, David Luiz, Azpi; Kante; Willian, Oscar, Matic, Hazard; Costa.
Liverpool starting XI:
Mingolet, Matip, Lovern, Millner, Lallana, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Coutinho, Sturridge, Mané
Preview of Chelsea vs Liverpool: Premier League Matchday 5
Tonight's game sees Chelsea, who currently sit second in the Premier League table, take on sixth-placed Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. The hosts will be looking to avoid a repeat of last year's corresponding fixture when Liverpool secured a resounding 3-1 win in one of coach Jurgen Klopp's first games in charge.
Chelsea
A win will put Chelsea provisionally top of the Premier League table on Friday night after a strong start to the season. Antonio Conte's side did, however, drop their first points of the season against Swansea City at the Liberty stadium on Sunday with Diego Costa saving the day with a sensational overhead kick in the final minutes. Captain John Terry picked up an ankle injury in that game and is ruled out with Conte confirming on Thursday that David Luiz will make his debut alongside Gary Cahill.
Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp's side will still be reeling from last week’s 4-1 razing of defending champions Leicester City and tonight's match-up is an opportunity for Liverpool to nudge their hosts from second place and settle in themselves. Klopp isn’t expected to do much tinkering with his side following their first home performance of the campaign last week against Leicester. Only Lucas Leiva, who was drafted into the side as a makeshift centre-back last week, could make way with Dejan Lovren now recovered from a black eye lending his physical presence to the back four. James Milner has been keeping Alberto Moreno out at left-back and Philippe Coutinho has his work cut out getting back into the side with Mané, Firmino and Sturridge in fine form.