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21 January 2007, by Sean Gillen

Liverpool expose injury-hit Chelsea

Liverpool 2-0 Chelsea

Chelsea’s title hopes suffered a major setback as a weakened Blues side were overpowered by Liverpool at Anfield. Two goals in the opening twenty minutes proved too much for the champions, who lost the chance to cut Manchester United’s lead at the top of the Premiership.

Jose Mourinho was dealt a major blow before the game when Ricardo Carvalho was ruled out with illness, leaving him with no choice but to partner Michael Essien with Paulo Ferreira in the heart of his defence. Petr Cech returned in goal to replace Hilario, while Andrei Shevchenko was left on the bench.

Liverpool took less than four minutes to expose the fragile Chelsea backline. Jamie Carragher launched a long ball to the edge of the penalty area for Peter Crouch to head down to Dirk Kuyt, and the Dutchman’s excellent first touch took him away from Ferreira and he gave Cech no chance with a side-footed finish.

Just two minutes later and the Merseysiders almost doubled their advantage. Steven Gerrard found John-Arne Riise inside the box, but the Norwegian was denied by a superb save from Cech.

Nervy Ferreira

The Chelsea defence, with the seemingly nervous Ferreira, continued to look extremely weak, and Liverpool took the opportunity to go two ahead in the 18th minute. Essien’s headed clearance landed at the feet of Jermaine Pennant wide on the right, and the former Arsenal man unleashed an unstoppable shot that flew in off the underside of the crossbar.

Mourinho’s injury crisis went from bad to worse when Arjen Robben had to be withdrawn on twenty minutes, with the Portuguese opting for Shaun Wright-Phillips as his replacement rather than Shevchenko.

The match reached the half hour point without any real threat from the visitors, and only after the extended absence of Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso to receive treatment did Chelsea enjoy a spell of pressure on their opponents.

Chelsea emerged from the break more composed, but there were rarely any genuine signs of a comeback, and Liverpool looked the most likely team to add to the scoring as they sought to exploit space on the counter attack.

Riise came the closest to making it three when he struck a 30-metre shot off the underside of the crossbar on the hour mark, and the left-back then picked out Kuyt at the back post but the forward could not get his effort on target.

The travelling fans had little to get excited about as Chelsea seemed to lack any real pattern or cohesion to their play, although Wright-Phillips did offer a threat down the right flank. The former Manchester City man had the Blues’ best effort on goal when he turned and shot on his left foot from inside the box, only to fire straight at Pepe Reina.

Shevchenko was summoned by Mourinho with fifteen minutes to go, replacing midfielder John Obi Mikel as he adopted a 4-4-2 system, but both Crouch and Kuyt went close again for the hosts as the game drew to a close and an inevitable win for Liverpool.

Chelsea have now won just one of their last five league games, and Mourinho will be hoping to get key players back into his side before their next Premiership match with Blackburn on the 31st of this month.

Jose Mourinho:

“There were definitely mistakes with people not adapting to their positions. I was waiting for 15 or 20 minutes to go by with no goals conceded and the confidence arriving. But when the team is very fragile on the pitch and mentally not so self confident it is difficult.”

“In the second half I think we played better but Liverpool defended well and were full of confidence. They knew they could be adventurous because our defensive line is fragile.”

Liverpool:
Reina, Finnan, Aurelio, Agger, Carragher, Alonso, Gerrard, Pennant, Riise, Crouch (Bellamy, 85), Kuyt (Gonzalez, 90)
Yellow Cards: None

Chelsea:
Cech, Geremi, Cole, Ferreira, Essien, Mikel (Shevchenko, 73), Lampard, Ballack, Robben (Wright-Phillips, 21), Kalou, Drogba
Yellow Cards: Ferreira (70)

Goals:
[1-0] Kuyt, 4
[2-0] Pennant, 18