1 hour ago
11
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
TNT ask Wesley Fofana whether or not he’s the scorer of Chelsea’s goal. “I think! … I don’t know if I touched the ball … it’s either me or Enzo … it was a good goal … important … yeah, I’m happy … to be honest, no [I didn’t feel the touch] … but everyone says on the video I touched the ball so I touched the ball! … we worked on that during the week.”
The player of the match Marc Cucurella adds: “The effort today was really good … it is not our best moment … but today we showed we fight together … a bit of confidence because next week we have a massive game [the FA Cup final].”
To be fair to Liverpool, they were the better side in the second half. They hit the woodwork twice, and had a goal disallowed. But Chelsea had a goal wiped off themselves, and their own period of dominance, during the second portion of the first half, was the most cohesive spell by either side. Although if you were to boil it all down, neither team particularly impressed. Liverpool were the home side, though, and are still, for what it’s worth, the reigning champions. Their decline has been precipitous … and so the booing, first of the withdrawal of the exciting Rio Ngumoha, then of the result and concomitant stodgy performance, was loud and unambiguous. Is this approaching untenable for Arne Slot? Days like this aren’t helping, put it that way.
FULL TIME: Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
Chelsea’s six-game losing streak comes to an end. They certainly deserved something from the game; they could easily have won it. Liverpool meanwhile are one point closer to Champions League qualification, but they didn’t cover themselves in glory today, and are met with loud booing on the final whistle.
90 min +6: Mamardashvili has the opportunity to bowl Chiesa into acres of space on the left … but overthrows. Groans. That just about sums up Liverpool’s performance.
90 min +5: On TNT Sports, Ally McCoist names Marc Cucurella as his player of the match. There should be no argument. The Chelsea wing-back has been superb.
90 min +4: Isak takes matters into his own hands with a power dribble down the right. He cuts back but Caicedo is on point to clear. Then Mac Allister is booked for a whack on Pedro’s heel.
90 min +3: Frimpong makes ground down the right and passes infield to … nobody. Liverpool’s attack is so disjointed.
90 min +2: Cucurella advances down the left and rolls across for Palmer. If the pass is played perfectly, Palmer is in. But it’s not. Liverpool lucky that the ball goes behind Palmer, who is forced to check his run. The danger over.
90 min: It looks like Pedro hooks his leg around Frimpong, instigating the contact. So that’s not going to be given. And it’s not. Caicedo is booked for speaking his mind. There will be seven additional minutes.
89 min: Pedro dribbles into the Liverpool box down the left and goes over in a tangle with Frimpong. VAR is going to take a look at this.
88 min: Gomez is booked for delaying the restart.
87 min: Chelsea, who will be happy with a point that would snap their six-match losing run, play some patient passing moves and bring down the temperature.
85 min: Szoboszlai loops the corner long from the left. Isak hooks it back into the centre from the right. Jorgensen claims.
84 min: Szoboszlai hoicks the free kick long. The ball rears up and hits Gusto on the arm, but Liverpool aren’t getting a penalty for that. They do get a corner soon after, though, thanks to Chiesa’s industry.
83 min: Cucurella is booked for a cynical drag on Frimpong. A free kick out on the right touchline.
82 min: Chiesa shapes to shoot but stubs his toe in the turf. Liverpool’s season in microcosm.
80 min: … but neither referee nor VAR shows any interest in awarding one.
79 min: … and Van Dijk crashes a header off the top of the crossbar and out! He wants a penalty, with Caicedo hugging him tightly …
78 min: Isak steals the ball and drives down the right wing, but can’t jink his way past Cucurella. He does, with the help of Frimpong, win a corner. Szoboszlai to take.
77 min: Liverpool make a double change, replacing Konate and Gakpo with Gomez and Chiesa. Both incoming players warmly greeted, another message to the manager perhaps.
76 min: Pedro swans past Mac Allister down the inside-left channel and into the box. He aims a curler towards the top right. Just wide, just over. Mac Allister and the equally culpable Konate breathe again.
74 min: Szoboszlai flings the resulting free kick into the box from the right. Colwill is forced to head over under pressure … but then he deals with the resulting corner by heading it clear.
73 min: … and now Fernandez follows his guvnor into the book for hanging a leg across Jones.
72 min: Chelsea’s interim boss Calum McFarlane is shown a yellow card for making too much of a fuss over a free kick awarded against Cucurella.
71 min: Szoboszlai cuts in from the left and cracks a glorious low drive off the base of the left-hand post. Jorgensen beaten all ends up. What an effort!
70 min: Ringo is an Arsenal fan, mind. The influence of his Londoner stepfather.
68 min: Hato is booked for a cynical tug on Frimpong’s arm. Nothing comes of the resulting free kick.
67 min: Arne Slot sends on Isak in place of the popular Ngumoha, and the Anfield crowd let the manager know their opinion of the decision in no uncertain terms. Beaucoups of boos, as one of the city’s four most famous sons so nearly sang.
66 min: James’s first act is to spray a long ball down the left for Cucurella, who once again causes Jones all sorts of trouble. A corner is won. But then it’s overturned. Goal kick.
64 min: Chelsea benefit from a couple of garden-variety decisions – a free kick here, a throw there – and the crowd yell in irritation. Less with the referee than their team, I’ll be bound. “Liverpool fans might be unhappy but isn’t it refreshing to watch a team which hasn’t been over-coached?” Please put your hands together for Niall Mullen and his arched eyebrow, ladies and gentlemen.
63 min: Chelsea make the first change of the afternoon, replacing Santos with their captain James.
62 min: Szoboszlai nearly nicks the ball off Jorgensen mid-Cruyff-turn. The keeper living dangerously there.
61 min: Liverpool have responded well to the shock of nearly going behind. A disallowed goal of their own, and a ratcheting up of the press. Anfield approves.
60 min: Frimpong again down the right. He cuts back, the ball pinging off the sliding Hato’s supporting arm. No penalty. The ball breaks to Szoboszlai, who arrows a rising shot towards the top right. Jorgensen tips around the post, great football all round. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
58 min: Now it’s Liverpool’s turn to have a goal disallowed. Frimpong advances down the right and cuts back for Szoboszlai, who crosses to the far post. Gakpo heads across the face of goal for Jones, who flicks a header home from close range. But Gakpo had drifted needlessly offside. The flag goes up immediately.
57 min: Konate pearls a pass down the right for Jones, who looks to be clear on goal … but is hauled back in a footrace with that man Cucurella, who is everywhere. Jones is forced to check back, and though he finds Frimpong infield, all momentum is gone.
55 min: Mac Allister now clatters into Cucurella, hard but fair, at the expense of a corner. From which nothing comes. Mac Allister running a bit hot here.
54 min: … and then a throughly frustrated Mac Allister comes flying across to challenge Gusto. He times the tackle just so, but had he arrived a split second later, he’d have cleaned out his man and would probably be continuing his hysterical journey down the tunnel for an early bath.
53 min: When the Palmer goal was disallowed, Arne Slot wore a look not of relief, but of thorough defeat. The vibes not good at Anfield.
52 min: Ngumoha feeds Gakpo down the left. Gakpo takes a heavy touch and runs the ball out of play. The denizens of the Kop not 100 percent impressed.
51 min: Jones and Frimpong exchange views. Neither man seems to know who should be picking up Cucurella. From a Liverpool point of view, it’s an absolute shambles.
NO GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
Cucurella was this far offside in the first instance. Liverpool get off with a huge one.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-2 Chelsea (Palmer 49)
Cucurella has been a menace down the left all day, and now he’s integral to Chelsea’s second. Caicedo releases him down the inside left. He rolls across for Pedro. Van Dijk gets in the way, but can only bash the ball off his own keeper. It breaks back to Palmer, who slams home. But …
48 min: … and when it’s swung in by Szoboszlai, Mac Allister heads over the bar. “Chelsea are clearly dominating this very poor Liverpool team now but you’d have to say these Chelsea players are a bunch of absolute chancers who obviously decide to play a bit when they’re facing a ‘big’ team or a semi-final,” suggests Stephen McCrossan.
47 min: Gusto skittles Frimpong out on the right. A free kick in much the same position from which Fernandez Fofana scored …
Liverpool get the second half started. No changes. They had just one shot on target in that first half. Their xG was 0.31. Just four touches in the Chelsea box compared to the opposition, who took 16 in theirs.
TNT Sports have just replayed the Chelsea goal, zoomed in close, at super-slow motion. Turns out we were right first time: it’s Fofana’s goal. He hangs out his leg as Fernandez’s low delivery comes curling into the box from the right. A brush of the studs nudges the ball forward … along exactly the same path as it was heading, into the bottom-left corner, but the touch makes it his goal.
Half-time advertising break / half-time entertainment. The Guardian has kicked off a new chapter in puzzles with the launch of its first daily football game, On the ball. It is now live in the app for both iOS and Android … so what are you waiting for?
HALF TIME: Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
A half of two halves. Liverpool were the better side for the first 20 minutes. Then they switched off, got passive, and it’s been all Chelsea, who will be wondering how they’re not in the lead. A few boos send Liverpool down the tunnel. Not loads, just a few, but they were heard.
45 min: Ngumoha wins the ball in the middle of the park, but there’s nobody else in red up with the play. He’s forced to turn tail. More concerned muttering. There will be two additional first-half minutes.
43 min: Frimpong wins a throw in Chelsea territory. Some ironic cheering from the home fans. That it’s come to this for the champions of England.
41 min: Liverpool regain a semblance of control with some patient passing in the middle of the park. Baby steps. They only look truly comfortable when attacking, though. Any Slot-ian attempt at control inevitably ends in farce.
39 min: Chelsea should be leading. A simple ball down the middle, and Fernandez is clear! He shoots low and hard. Mamardashvili saves brilliantly, but the home fans are now almost mutinous. They are running hot.
37 min: A caveat: that might be Fernandez’s goal. In fact, it’s been given to him. It looked like it brushed Fofana’s boot, but here we are. Meanwhile Chelsea come again, Pedro taking a whack that’s blocked. The home fans are now fuming. Liverpool were in control of this game, then decided to sit back, and now are all over the shop!
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea (Fofana 35)
The free kick is 35 yards out on the right. Fernandez sends it curling low into the box. Fofana sticks out a leg, the ball brushing the bottom of his boot and hardly deviating, sailing into the bottom left past a flat-footed Mamardashvili. Weird, but Liverpool didn’t deal with Fernandez’s delivery at all!
34 min: Liverpool have the ball on halfway, turn tail, and eventually it’s back with Mamardashvili, who slices it out of play for a throw on the right. From that, Gakpo clatters Fofana, and it’s a free kick in a dangerous position.
32 min: … and here he is, first winning a corner off Konate, then nearly latching onto a Santos pass down the left channel. Liverpool can’t get close to him at all, and Chelsea are playing their way back into this match. They’ve enjoyed 89 percent of possession during the last five minutes.
