Chelsea vs Liverpool ended in a 2-1 victory for the Blues at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, October 4. The result marked their third loss in a row, extending Liverpool’s losing streak and intensifying concerns about Arne Slot’s Liverpool problems early in the season.
Their loss meant that Arsenal are now top of the Premier League table with 16 points from seven matches, while Liverpool have 15.
Estevao scored the match-winner for Chelsea in the dying minutes of the match after Cody Gakpo had cancelled out Moises Caicedo’s strike in the first half. It was an absorbing match, but the Royal Blues were probably the deserving winners in the end despite missing Cole Palmer and their regular centre-backs.
Chelsea vs Liverpool: Liverpool’s Losing Streak Continues
Liverpool’s hat-trick of losses happened because of the non-performance of their star players. Mohamed Salah was off-colour once again and his inability to track back must be questioned.
However, it has to be kept in mind that Liverpool did not concede the second goal from a brisk counter-attack, and as a result, their defence had enough time to reorganise itself and prevent Chelsea’s attack through the left during the Chelsea vs Liverpool clash.
With the double-pivot in place in a 4-2-3-1, which would not have been the case in a 4-3-3, one of the two holding midfielders should always be ready to give cover to the full-backs.
Moreover, none of the three midfielders who started for Liverpool finished the match in their starting position. While Ryan Gravenberch shifted to central defence and Dominik Szoboszlai to the right-back position, Alexis Mac Allister was replaced by Wataru Endo.
It was a decisive victory for Chelsea’s double-pivot and No. 10 (Caicedo, Reece James and Enzo Fernandez) over their Liverpool counterparts, deepening Liverpool’s losing streak that has now seen the Reds suffer Liverpool’s third loss in a row.
Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike did not start for Slot’s team and were only introduced in the second half. Cody Gakpo was the most impressive among Liverpool’s front-three, which also comprised of Salah and Alexander Isak, the most expensive signing ever in British football.
However, it also cannot be denied that the Reds looked vulnerable through the right side of their defence, which was not shepherded by their left-sided centre-back, Virgil van Dijk.
Connor Bradley, who started as the right-back, started making overlaps frequently from the beginning of the match, but had to curb his attacking instincts after a while, as Alejandro Garnacho and Marc Cucurella combined through Chelsea’s left side to exploit the space left behind by him in the Chelsea vs Liverpool fixture.
Mac Allister was outmanoeuvred by an intelligent touch from Caicedo in the middle third before the latter progressed to score Chelsea’s opener with a thunderous strike from 25 yards out. Liverpool equalised in the second half, but their defence kept being split wide open by the long balls played by Chelsea, a pattern that has persisted throughout Liverpool’s losing streak.
Endo was the man who failed to stop Cucurella from playing the cross from the left that led to Chelsea’s match-winner. A centre-back would probably have succeeded in stopping the Spanish centre-back from delivering the ball – another costly error that summed up Liverpool’s third loss in a row.
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Does Slot Have the Solutions?
Arne Slot has already benched both Wirtz and Ekitike. Isak has scored a solitary goal for them, and Salah seems incapable of breaking through defences with darting runs. Szoboszlai is being forced to change his role frequently, and Mac Allister does not seem to make amends if Gravenberch has an off-day. Maybe it is about time Slot starts with Curtis Jones ahead of the Argentine.
The defence is too reliant on Van Dijk and it is not a good sign at all. Unless Wirtz and Isak start firing for the Reds, it seems to be a difficult road ahead for them. With Salah being out of form, the English champions seem to be genuinely devoid of a match-winner at the moment.
It will be interesting to see how Slot manages to dig his way out of this hole and end the Liverpool losing streak that the Chelsea vs Liverpool result has now extended.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / Xinhua
Recording Date: 04.10.2025