Match Report: Chelsea 2 - Liverpool 1

Match Day: Saturday 4th October 2025 (17:30)

Chelsea Scorer's:

Caicedo (14')  

Estevao (90+5')

Liverpool Scorer's:

Gakpo (63')

Lineup: click here

Match Report:

The idiom 'Lightning never strikes the same place twice' is usually stated in the context of a question, but surely in this case with Liverpool having lost their last 2 games, where the last Premier League loss against Crystal Palace came in the dying minutes of the game could not happen again against Chelsea could it ? Liverpool in their first 6 games spanning all competitions had been winning in the last minutes of games, but it seems that another common idiom can be associated with Liverpool - 'the tables have turned'.

Chelsea came into this game with a number of injuries and suspensions having lost their last two premier league games.  So one would have assumed that their confidence would be at a low point having to now face the current champions.  However, the champions themselves come into this game having lost their last two games.   The recent history of this fixture all seems to point to a draw, although last season Chelsea beat Liverpool, very little can be taken out of it given that Liverpool had wrapped up the title and were mentally on vacation in their remaining premier league games.  This game is one of those that Liverpool should win - given the injuries and missing players from the Chelsea lineup - none more so than Cole Palmer their creative outlet and talisman. Notably missing from the Liverpool starting lineup was Wirtz as Slot returned to his last season's trusted midfield trio of Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, and Gravenberch.  The front line was Gakpo, Isak, and Salah. 

The first ten minutes of the half Liverpool dominated the proceedings with pacey passing, and pressing the hosts with intent when out of possession, and it looked like that Chelsea might have a long evening.  Then in a midfield engagement in the 14th minute there was a communication break-down between the pivot of Mac Allister, and Gravenberch as Caicedo evaded both and had enough space to shoot from outside the box, which was lightly touched by Marmadashvili as he stretched to his right but unable to keep the ball out of his net.  Caicedo celebrated the goal with his team-mates with the feeling of a player who had found some kind of redemption having scored against that club that tried to interfere in his move to Chelsea three seasons ago.  Liverpool for the remainder of the half had very few chances - or rather they could not create anything of note, the final third passing lacked imagination and often broke-down, the Chelsea goalkeeper had very little to do.  Isak, was again waiting for some kind of opportunity and to be fair he was often heavily marked but retained possession up front as much as he could.  Chelsea repeatedly targeted the right side of Liverpool down Conor Bradley's flank, who by the end of the half and got a yellow card with repeated engagements against Garnacho, and Cucurella, but he defended his right side well despite the pressure, but not well enough to retain his spot to start in the second half.

The second half started well for Liverpool, the timing of the pressing was much better, Slot had made his first changes by moving Szoboszlai to right back and bringing on Wirtz, Konate was replaced with Curtis Jones, it would be up to Ryan Gravenberch to move into defense to support Virgil.  The only substitution you could question was bringing on Andy Robertson for Kerkez - who did not have a bad first at all.  There was good movement between the new arrivals, and Chelsea has to adjust their rear-guard to the point where they suffered an injury to Badiashile who had to be replaced.  Wirtz created a chance for Salah, which he should have scored from, but for his current bad form.  Eventually an overlap by Szoboszlai with Salah ended up with a cross that landed at the feet of Isak, who facing away from goal in the penalty area managed to lay the ball off to his right and into the path of Cody Gakpo who beat his man to shoot into the Chelsea net.  Whether Isak meant that with his back to goal or not was not obvious as replays showed that he did not have sight of Gakpo to his right before he laid the ball off. It seemed that Liverpool had the upper hand now, Chelsea were struggling to contain them, and they suffered another injury to a defender as Acheamong had to be replaced with Hato.  Chelsea were now down to their third string defense, - surely Liverpool should win this right ?

After ten minutes of Liverpool dominance after they had scored, Chelsea gradually got back into the game, and they did through evading the Liverpool press, and making precision passing from their midfielders to their winger outlets. They were gradually gaining control of the game and often causing problems in the Liverpool final third, and winning corners.  Marmadashvili had a busy second half in his first premier league appearance, he had to save two goal bound shots in quick succession, but being the size he is, he was able to deal with the corners well by punching or catching the ball.  Liverpool were driving forward in moments but again that first half issue of miss-timed movement and passing in the final third of the Chelsea half was their downfall.  Liverpool shots were well blocked by Chelsea, and the lack of duels against the Chelsea wings to move their back line was non existent on the right and Gakpo's attempts on the left were frustrating to see.  Gakpo would either lose the ball or put in weak crosses that were easily handled by Sanchez the Chelsea goalkeeper.  

Slot decided to substitute Endo for Mac Alister, for whatever reason Slot decided to make that move is a  complete mystery as Endo progressing the ball is not a site to behold.  Also of note was the substitution of Ekitike for Isak.  In extra time, there were things happening that cannot be explained, in one instance Caicedo managed to pass through a press of nearly four Liverpool players around him.  But the final winning game from Chelsea in the 95th minute started in their penalty area while Liverpool were pressing, they managed to string together about four passes which landed them against the Liverpool defenders just outside of the Liverpool penalty area, a simple cross to the left to an unmarked Estevao - who would then go onto score the winning goal from an acute angle despite the late arrival of Andy Robertson to attempt to cover.  The whole situation could have been avoided if only Robertson and Gravenberch had held their defensive line a little further up in line with Virgil.

Liverpool go into this international break in second place, it seems that their closest rivals Arsenal are starting to build momentum having overtaken them in the league table this weekend.  The performance again was not good enough, should the manager take the blame ? - it is hard to tell when so many of the players look out of sorts,.  Is it the system that's not working or the choice of the starting lineup ? already there are shouts of "Slot Out" and comparisons with Eric Ten-Hag's second season with Manchester United.  Some of it is well over the top considering the man delivered a premier league title in his first season, and won the Champions league group stage by coming top.  Social media spaces will be full of Liverpool fans bemoaning the teams performance and no doubt fans calling for Slot to leave - it will be hell.