Late twists are not what they used to be for Liverpool. Whereas it was Arne Slot’s team who were the beneficiaries of dramatic finales in the first weeks of the season, they have now been downed by stoppage-time winners twice in a week.
Chelsea had taken the lead through Moises Caicedo’s ferocious strike from outside of the area 14 minutes into the match and been the better side across the piece only for Cody Gakpo to net an equaliser midway through the second half.
But Enzo Maresca should be proud with how his side forced their deserved winner that came courtesy of Estevao Willian’s first goal for the club in the 96th minute. Marc Cucurella’s low cross was converted by the 18-year-old at the back post to send Stamford Bridge wild.
These are the moments the home crowd have waited for so long. Maresca haring down the touchline in celebration, which earned him his second yellow card of the day, highlighted that this was more than just a victory to end two successive Premier League defeats.
Chelsea had been pegged back and seen Josh Acheampong and Benoit Badiashile exit due to injury, taking the number of stricken central defenders to six. How they refused to settle for a draw will be the main takeaway from this.
Liverpool, on the other hand, must now go into the international break amidst the worst run of form since Slot became head coach.
This was always going to be a tough week for a team in transition, and three losses — which started with Eddie Nketiah’s 97th-minute winner for Crystal Palace last Saturday, continued away at Galatasaray and has now seen them cede top spot in the table to Arsenal — shows how they have fared.
They tried a bit of everything here to wrest back some form. Not starting Florian Wirtz and reverting to the title-winning midfield of last season gave way to the £116 million signing coming on, along with Hugo Ekitike, and then two midfielders ending the game in defence.
Yet, Stamford Bridge was hardly going to be the perfect venue for Liverpool, who had not won on any of their past four visits, to rediscover winning ways.
This was the scene of Slot’s biggest defeat to date in charge of Liverpool — the 3-1 loss in May coming after the title had been secured, though — and is now the place where his tenure has fallen to it’s most delicate spot. Seven straight wins giving way to three successive losses is some reversion.
Story of the game
Liverpool needed an improved performance and there was a sense of Slot returning to familiarity by starting a midfield of Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai for just the second time this season.
But Chelsea, who had their own losing run to end, shook Liverpool out of their early stride with a rocket that wouldn’t have had any more power had it been fired out from one of the pre-match fireworks.
Malo Gusto, playing in a more advanced position in midfield, gave Caicedo the ball and, after Mac Allister overcommitted when trying to intercept the pass, the Chelsea midfielder had space in front of the Liverpool area to move into.
Neither Ibrahima Konate nor Virgil van Dijk stepped forward to engage and so a 22-yard rocket was deployed from Caicedo’s right boot into the top corner. The 23-year-old Ecuadorian, who rejected a move to Liverpool the summer before last, celebrated his third goal of the season by pointing to the Chelsea badge on his shirt.
Before the goal Liverpool’s backline had begun to look flustered, and Konate spraying a straightforward pass out to touch was one example.
Alejandro Garnacho, starting his first league game for Chelsea, was lively and used his instep to curl an effort that clipped the upright, so close were the hosts to pushing further ahead. Though when the winger went down after being chased into the area by Szoboszlai, penalty calls were rightly dismissed. Maresca took a caution for his protestations, however.
Chelsea largely frustrated Liverpool’s attack by keeping their shape and working hard without the ball. Midfielders Enzo Fernandez and Caicedo chased down everything as Slot’s players struggled to make headway.
Szoboszlai side-footed a pull-back from Gakpo which was only prevented from going in by it hitting Badiashile, and Mohamed Salah fed a cross onto Alexander Isak’s head but the striker couldn’t keep his header down.
Conor Bradley, who had been booked for a shirt pull and came close to a second with a mistimed tackle, was replaced by Wirtz at half-time and he immediately teed up Salah with a one-touch flick. The effort was sent into the side-netting.
Nevertheless, Liverpool were better in the second half. Gravenberch shooting at Robert Sanchez after Isak had won possession and Salah curling wide demonstrated their greater urgency. It was a more open game now and parity was restored in the 63rd minute after Chelsea had gone close through a Joao Pedro header.
Salah released Szoboszlai on the overlap down the right and his ball into the area was brought down with a deft touch by Isak, who had his back to goal. Whether he intended to finish himself didn’t matter as Gakpo stole in to send the ball past Sanchez.
Matters worsened for Chelsea either side of the equaliser as both Badiashile and Acheampong limped off, but that was quickly forgotten as a dramatic finale unfolded.
Chelsea might have settled for a draw against the champions and yet instead put their foot down in the final ten minutes.
Substitutes Jamie Gittens and Estevao brought saves out of Giorgi Mamardashvili on his league debut and Fernandez headed against the back post. But it was in the sixth minute of stoppage time that Estevao slid in ahead of Andy Robertson to convert at the back post and become the hero.
