Chelsea Stops Liverpool: Crisis at Anfield After Dramatic Defeat?

Estêvão gives Chelsea the victory in a vibrant match against Liverpool

A late goal by Estêvão in added time gave Chelsea a 2-1 victory over Liverpool, preventing the Premier League champions from regaining the lead. Cody Gakpo seemed to have rescued a point for Liverpool after Moisés Caicedo’s opening goal, but Estevao’s goal in the 95th minute changed the course of the match. Liverpool had conceded first place hours earlier, when title rivals Arsenal beat West Ham United 2-0, leaving the “Reds” in second position heading into the international break. Caicedo put Chelsea ahead with a shot from distance that went into Giorgi Mamardashvili’s goal in the 14th minute at Stamford Bridge. Gakpo equalized the match near the hour mark, but it was Enzo Maresca’s team that took the victory after Estevao scored in stoppage time.

Is Liverpool in crisis?

Beth Lindop

While Chelsea players celebrated Estêvão’s goal, the song “Chelsea Dagger” played over the loudspeakers at Stamford Bridge. Without a doubt, Liverpool will be affected by this defeat, which could prove costly in their pursuit of the Premier League title. It’s the first time in Arne Slot’s tenure that the “Reds” have lost three consecutive matches and the first time they’ve lost two league games in a row in over two years, since the defeats against Bournemouth and Manchester City in March-April 2023. The fact that Liverpool remains second in the table, just one point behind leaders Arsenal, is a testament to their good start to the campaign. But, having been the beneficiaries of so many late goals in the early weeks of the season, Slot’s team has now received a bitter taste of their own medicine in successive matches, the latest blow being Eddie Nketiah’s last-gasp goal for Crystal Palace last week. Liverpool is not yet in full crisis, but currently seems a shadow of the team that won the title last season. After a summer of huge changes at the club, during which they spent nearly £450 million in the transfer market, a transition period may be expected. However, if Slot wants his team to defend their crown, he will have to find solutions quite quickly. Caicedo shines for Chelsea and makes Liverpool pay Liverpool failed to secure the signing of Caicedo when he left Brighton for Chelsea in 2023, but the Ecuadorian made them pay this time. The “Reds” retreated and retreated, allowing Caicedo to collect the simple pass from Malo Gusto in the 14th minute and aim. The 23-year-old player fired an unstoppable shot into the top corner to add a new entry to his already impressive repertoire. In these lands, they joke that Caicedo only scores great goals, and there’s plenty of evidence to support that: his first goal for Chelsea came from the halfway line against Bournemouth in May 2024, while last season his two goals were impressive, against Manchester United at Old Trafford and to seal a 4-1 victory in the UEFA Conference League final against Real Betis. Scoring goals wasn’t in the plans when Chelsea then committed to a British record transfer fee of £115 million for Caicedo, but it’s starting to become a very valuable bonus. Caicedo has already scored more goals in the Premier League this season (three in seven games) than in his first two seasons at the club in 73 games.

Salah’s slump for Liverpool continues

James Olley

For a long time, Mohamed Salah has been Liverpool’s talisman, the man they turned to when they needed a moment of magic. Nowadays, however, the Egyptian international’s golden touch seems to be eluding him. Against his former club, Chelsea, Salah once again seemed a shadow of his former self and spent much of the night on the periphery of the action. In the first half, he only touched the ball 18 times, the fewest of any Liverpool player (along with Alexander Isak), and only completed six of his 11 passes. After the break, he participated more, although his erratic finishing was uncharacteristic of a player who scored 29 goals, the highest figure in the league, last season. Of course, there are some mitigating circumstances for his dip in form. The arrival of Isak and Hugo Ekitike this summer means that Salah still has to forge new relationships with the players around him. It is also impossible to quantify the impact of Diogo Jota’s tragic death on the 33-year-old player, who broke down in tears on the first day of the season against Bournemouth. Even so, no player, no matter how great, can escape the passage of time forever. After signing a two-year contract extension in April, Liverpool coach Arne Slot hopes Salah’s slump is temporary, but it’s clear that, for now at least, he has lost his spark.

Maresca has his Mourinho moment How fitting that at the end of a week in which José Mourinho was honored on his last return to Stamford Bridge, this time with Benfica, the current Chelsea coach, Enzo Maresca, could enjoy a moment reminiscent of one of his predecessor’s most iconic moments. Mourinho’s dash down the touchline at Old Trafford when his Porto side knocked Manchester United out en route to victory in the 2003-04 Champions League is one of the Portuguese’s most iconic moments. That triumph earned him the job at Chelsea, where he became a legend in two spells. Who knows where this will sit in the club’s history, but Maresca emulated Mourinho by running towards the corner where his players celebrated Estevao’s dramatic intervention. It also earned him a red card from referee Anthony Taylor, denying him any further enjoyment at the moment, but the pressure on the Italian has been mounting after a patchy start to the season, as some fans are not convinced he is the right man to bring them back into contention for Premier League titles. Beating the champions will seem especially sweet in that context, so his reaction was understandable.

Chelsea’s center-back problems deepen Maresca could no longer count on Wesley Fofana, Levi Colwill, Tosin Adarabioyo (all injured) and Trevoh Chalobah (suspended) before losing Benoît Badiashile to injury early in the second half. That forced Maresca to introduce Romeo Lavia, who had just recovered, into midfield and to move Reece James to the center of defense alongside young Josh Acheampong, a 19-year-old academy graduate who impressed in his fourth Premier League start and, by far, the most important. Eight minutes later, Liverpool equalized and shortly after, Acheampong couldn’t continue and Jorrel Hato was brought on for his fifth appearance following a £37 million transfer from Ajax. At the top of the field, Chelsea relied on Joao Pedro, but with Liam Delap injured, not to mention the absence of playmaker Cole Palmer, Marc Guiu made his first appearance after being suddenly called up from Sunderland. He touched the ball twice. But Estevao made sure none of that mattered on Saturday. Liverpool increasingly faces its own defensive problems As the legendary Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson once said: “Attack wins you games, defense wins you titles.” Based on the evidence from this season, Liverpool’s defensive issues make it difficult to see them retain their Premier League crown without serious improvement. The “Reds” have conceded nine goals in their seven league games this season and have only kept a clean sheet in two of their ten matches in all competitions. On the contrary, their Arsenal rivals have only conceded three goals in the top category this season and it is that stability that has helped them rise to the top of the table. Since the first game of the season against Bournemouth, Liverpool has seemed permeable. Ibrahima Konate, whose contract expires next summer, has seemed lacking composure, while Slot’s inability to settle on a starting right-back has prevented the “Reds” defensive line from gaining any kind of consistency. Despite having signed a plethora of top-level forwards last summer, the failed signing of Marc Guehi, Palace defender, seems increasingly costly as the weeks go by.