Liverpool have now lost three matches in a row for the first time under Arne Slot after they succumbed to a 2-1 loss at Chelsea on Saturday evening, ensuring they will go into the October international break only second in the Premier League table. The reigning champions of England can't have many complaints about the result either, with the Club World Cup winners outlasting them and striking at the death to settle the contest.
What proved to be a manic contest began with a contender for goal of the season. Moises Caicedo, famously of Liverpool interest before his £115m move to Chelsea in 2023, was given the freedom of Stamford Bridge by a retreating Reds backline and essentially non-existent midfield as he approached the penalty area. He didn't need a second invitation to pick out the top corner of Giorgi Mamardashvili's net.
Arne Slot had the luxury of throwing on £117m man Florian Wirtz at half-time, and that seemed to kick Liverpool into gear. They found an equaliser when Dominik Szoboszlai's cross looped up into the path of Alexander Isak, the most expensive man on the pitch at a measly £125m, and his touch fell for Cody Gakpo to fire home. From there, both sides committed to finding a winner, but there could only be one and it turned out to be Chelsea.
Having forced Mamardashvili into a few saves leading into stoppage time, the Blues regrouped and launched one final attack, with Marc Cucurella getting to the last line and cutting the ball right through the six-yard box for Estevao Willian to convert. Just like that, the three points belonged to Chelsea and Liverpool were heading home empty-handed from a game that was in their control.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from one of the games of the Premier League campaign so far…
Getty Images SportWINNER: Estevao Willian
We'll start with the man who settled the contest. Well, in many ways at the age of 18, he's still an adolescent, but you would barely be able to tell that by watching him.
There was much excitement around west London when Chelsea beat the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich to Estevao's signature in 2024. Widely tipped as one of Brazil's famed generational attackers, he's already made a compelling case to be a regular starter at Stamford Bridge and this performance will only strengthen that.
Estevao replaced the hard-working but quiet Pedro Neto on 75 minutes with the game finely poised at 1-1. To that point, Chelsea had been adventurous but ultimately blunt, as best showcased by their opener coming through a screamer from distance. With each touch of the ball Estevao had, you could hear the clank of the plastic seats around the stadium. Home fans got to their feet, knowing he was going to do something special. Before scoring, he dug out a fantastic cross for Enzo Fernandez to head off the post and forced Mamardashvili into a stretching stop. He set his own stage for a grandstand finale.
The teenager soaked in the Stamford Bridge atmosphere and milked every last drop of adulation. At full-time, he embraced with the injured Cole Palmer, the current poster-boy of this Chelsea project, perhaps wondering if there was room for another co-star once they can take to the pitch together. It's difficult for anyone to come off the bench at 18 to swing a game the way Estevao did, let alone against the reigning Premier League champions.
AdvertisementAFPLOSER: Arne Slot
The main reason Chelsea were able to claw their way back into the game was because of Liverpool's negligence, both on and off the pitch. Their lavish summer transfer spend surpassing the £400m-mark now looks greedy for the sake of greedy as the team have lost their sense of shape and sensibility.
Slot has had the task of trying to assemble a new-look team ready to compete straight away, which of course takes time, but they have seldom looked as settled and streetwise as the outfit from his debut season at Anfield. He arrived on Merseyside in the summer of 2024 hailed as a smart manager who tinkered and adapted to the needs of different situations and squad at his disposal, and he needs to figure out how to maximise this one as soon as possible. For much of the second half, Liverpool's back four consisted of Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson. You didn't get the sense that this was a team serious about keeping Chelsea out.
Not only have his Liverpool team lost for a third successive game for the first time on his watch, but twice now they have been beaten at their own game. To begin the season, the Reds came up with a series of late goals to snatch victories, though have now fallen to defeat for a second week running owing to a stoppage-time slip-up.
"We were the dominant team, but in the last ten to fifteen minutes it was end to end, both teams could have scored. Both teams arrived a lot of times at the 18-yard line. These are the margins that don't fall for us at the moment. We have to work harder to not rely on these margins. Chelsea, Palace away, these are also teams that ask you a lot of questions," Slot assessed post-match. Again, this is not a team in control of its own fortune with how loose and free they've been playing.
AFPWINNER: Enzo Maresca
In the blue corner, Maresca will recognise this was a massive win in not only this season, but his tenure as a whole. Amid a recent slump in results, reports have emerged of the club hierarchy's willingness to assess his position at the end of the campaign. That's not to say his job is in danger or under threat, but that this line needed to be pedalled out to the public is clearly a sign that some things are going awry.
Chelsea pulled up to Stamford Bridge missing several key players, not least Palmer, sidelined due to injury, with many pointing to the impact of the summer's Club World Cup as a reason behind the crisis. His makeshift centre-back pairing of Josh Acheampong and Benoit Badiashile, who both performed well here, had to go off after pulling up. It would have been understandable if this young side crumbled under the pressure of an expensive and accomplished Liverpool attack.
Instead, Chelsea came roaring back. They rallied again and again until they broke the Liverpool resistance. As Estevao's winner rippled the net, Maresca sprinted down the touchline a la Jose Mourinho in celebration and perhaps relief. It's easy to question the mentality of a team whose average age is below 25, whose manager has fewer than three full seasons in the profession. Yet here they were together, taking the game to the champions of England.
Maresca's sending off meant he was unable to speak to the media after the game, but you can bet for sure that he would have been grinning from ear to ear at the sweet vindication of such a seismic win. It was a rare show of emotion for a man who's kept his cards close to his chest since taking this job, and this is the kind of moment that ought to buy him more endearment and good will with supporters.
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Getty Images SportLOSER: Mohamed Salah
Boy, where do you even start with this one? Mohamed Salah has gone six Premier League matches without a goal from open play, which by his standards is the drought of the century. What's more alarming is what he is, or isn't, doing in these games.
That same spark isn't there anymore. That unpredictability is gone. In contrast to the youthful Estevao, Salah was the embodiment of the Steve Buscemi 'how do you do, fellow kids?' meme.
A quiet first half came and went without Salah getting involved pretty much at all. The second would have made Liverpool fans wish they were watching the first again instead, with the Egyptian King going from merely a passenger to someone who was of detriment to their chances of winning. Wirtz set Salah in on goal within a minute of the restart with a clever flick, and on a normal day it would have ended the German's long wait for a goal involvement in Liverpool colours. Alas, Salah somehow fired wide. From there on, whenever the winger actually had space to gallop into or room to shoot, he fired into bodies of defenders or right into the Shed End.
It's not unusual for Salah to begin seasons at a slower pace, but at the age of 33 and with thousands of minutes already on his body, it's going to prove an even harder challenge to get back into the rhythm everyone expects of him.