Eyebrows were raised when the team sheets where handed in by Kenny Dalglish and Andre Villas-Boas, both decided on keeping some of their high-priced talent on the bench. The stand-out being Fernando Torres and his fifty-million dollar price-tag deemed only fit enough to be amongst the reserve as Didier Drogba was preferred. In mid-field more surprisingly was the absence of Raul Meireles and his great range in distributing the ball in favor of a more defensive John Obi Mikel.
For Liverpool Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing started the match alongside one another on the bench, over seventy million pounds worth of players not in the starting eleven. What did look positive was Craig Bellamy was inserted to play behind Luis Suarez in attack. The Welshman's quickness and football IQ is better suited to compliment the Uruguayans style of play, both having established a solid partnership and understanding on the field.
Maxi Rodriguez was also given the surprise start for Dalglish on the right, early efforts showed a little bit of rust by getting out-muscled and out-worked in possession, first by John Terry and then by Branislav Ivanovic, tossing the Argentine aside with a shoulder barge to break-up a threat on goal. Although his presence was threatening when able to link up with Suarez and Bellamy on the counter attack, tucking inside giving Jose Enrique space down the wing to provide another option when going on the offensive.
The first chance fell to Chelsea, Juan Mata volleying the shot wide from a tough angle after losing his marker Enrique during the buildup. Plenty of half chances followed for Liverpool but nothing really threatened Petr Cech with his defenders making timely blocks to break up the play. Majority of possession was focused in the mid-field as both sides started out very aggressive to set the tone, tackles were flying in hard and quick but referee Lee Probert did a good job of allowing play to continue.
The crowd inside Stamford Bridge thought Drogba had equalized on a brilliantly placed free kick that rippled the net meshing leaving Pepe Reina frozen to his line, fooling everyone watching at home including the match score keeper. But the shot went about a foot wide. That was the only attempt on goal for Chelsea in the first half as the match took a turn for the worse and became stale with both teams failing to impose themselves offensively.
Whenever the Reds did venture forward they were able to get behind Chelsea's high defensive line rather easily and allowed too much space to try and create from, Terry was being targeted and exposed for his lack of pace and got caught in possession on numerous occasions or was forced into a late challenge causing a foul. The Blues looked extremely nervous and sloppy with the ball in their own end; it was only a matter of time before an error at the back was going to cost them.
The deadlock was broken just past the half-hour mark due to a poor decision by Cech to play the short pass to Mikel down the middle; Charlie Adam read the play and immediately pressured to force the turnover. Bellamy then played a nice one-two with Suarez before squaring it to Rodriguez for the easy one-timer past Cech. It was a touch of class by Liverpool following a terrible blunder by the veteran goalkeeper.
Reina was mainly a spectator in the first half as Chelsea's big guns were held silent, never threatening the Spaniards goal mouth. Frank Lampard and Mata were anonymous and unable to create chances for Drogba to attack, without options through the middle Florent Malouda struggled to compensate and pick up the slack down the wing either. The Blues were completely flat which kept Stamford Bridge silent for much of the first half. Liverpool controlled and dominated the first forty-five minutes.
Villas-Boas made necessary changes for the second half bringing in Daniel Sturridge for Mikel hoping that the switch would bring his team to life offensively. Chelsea responded positively when Drogba came close to netting the equalizer within five minutes of the re-start, shaking off two defenders but sending the shot wide. Chelsea looked the different side and continued to slice through Liverpool's defensive line at will, Martin Skrtel having to make a last ditch effort to block a chance by Mata that would have tested Reina.
All the possession and pressure soon paid off as the Reds were caught on their heels; Malouda was able to walk through untouched providing the perfect cross for Sturridge to net the tying goal, somehow left unmarked at the far post. The play started rather innocently when Terry made an unchallenged run down the left which kept Johnson honest deciding not to pressure Malouda, but if you look closely it was Dirk Kuyt that failed to pick up the dummy run by the Blues captain forcing Johnson into a difficult position and choice. If he followed the initial run by Terry the play would have been broken up.
Having all of the momentum Chelsea were unlucky not to have taken the lead a minute later, Lampard sent a nice cross into the danger zone off a set-piece that found the head of David Luiz only for Reina to produce the save of the match by quickly getting down to push the shot wide of his post. It was a testament to his cat-like reflexes and sheer class being able to make the save from such a close distance.
Liverpool were rattled and looked more than happy to escape the Bridge with a point after initially being the better side. What caused Chelsea problems in the first half was the combination of Suarez, Bellamy and Rodriguez. But all-three struggled to get involved and were largely non-existent in the second half. All the focus was placed on not surrendering another goal and preserving the point.
Malouda was next to threaten Reina's goal, doing well to chest down a cross with his back to goal and attempting an audacious half-volley between two defenders that went wide off the mark . He followed this up five minutes later with another volley from a tough angle, but this time the effort was less impressive.
It was Suarez that was able to claw back some of that early momentum, silent for the majority of the second but coming to life in the final ten minutes and produced some quality runs with some of that fancy footwork which have become his trademark. Luiz was on the receiving end of one of these tantalizing runs, Suarez calmly playing the ball through his legs to get by with ease, leaving the Chelsea defender looking foolish in his wake. The tide started to turn with the visitors becoming the aggressors.
Torres was subbed on for Drogba with just over five minutes remaining, and Ramires made way for Meireles. As expected El Nino was greeted with a chorus of boos by the travelling supporters, although the home crowd tried to drown out the negativity by giving their striker a standing ovation hoping to boost his confidence, the winner providing the possible story book finish that could knock the monkey of his back and kick-start a good run of form. But Torres ended up being a non-factor and his performance went unnoticed.
Henderson was another high-priced substitute that entered the contest mid-way through the second half, the mid-fielder almost set-up the winner with a nice run down the right flank doing well to avoid two heavy challenges before crossing into the box and placing Kuyt in a perfect position to score. Unfortunately the shot fizzled wide failing to test Cech. Suarez looked to be in a better position and was furious not to have received the lay-off by Kuyt that could have potential won the match. But a minute later it was a former Chelsea player that provided the knockout punch for Liverpool that also bailed Kuyt out of squandering his earlier chance.
Glen Johnson sealed the victory for the Reds three minutes before injury time, finding space down the right side thanks to Adam's pinpoint cross-field pass. Johnson showed great control before nut-megging Ashley Cole and slotting the ball past Cech and the last ditch effort by Terry on the goal-line to block the shot. It was a sensational solo run by the defender that will be a contender for goal of the season.
The victory allowed Liverpool to catch Chelsea in the table and created a four-way tie for the coveted final Champions League place, although Tottenham have two games in hand on the field. It was the Reds fourth win on the road having already equaled last season’s total tally. Dalglish will be happy his side earned the hard fought victory going into next week’s encounter with league leaders Manchester City at Anfield.
The Blues title ambitions have now come into question, losing three of their last four matches and having failed to earn a single point against rivals Arsenal, Manchester United and now Liverpool. The Villas-Boas revolution might be dangerously close to its expiration date should negative results like this continue to accumulate.
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