ANFIELD, LIVERPOOL // Liverpool produced a sensational performance to maintain its title charge at Anfield with four goals being scored by Jürgen Klopp’s side. It could easily have been more with Darwin Núñez missing a penalty and hitting the woodwork twice more in another all-action showing.
Liverpool was able to create chances regularly and Christopher Nkunku’s goal to make it 3-1 only ever felt like a consolation. Apart from that, the Reds were dominant and showed exactly why they lead the league standings, getting what was Klopp’s 200th Premier League victory.
Next up is a trip to Arsenal at the weekend for Liverpool. Win that — and the Reds did win at the Emirates Stadium earlier this month in the FA Cup — and things will really feel even more like they are clicking into gear. It is going to be quite a finish to the season.
Here are the three moments Liverpool.com picked out from the Reds’ 4-1 victory over Chelsea. The Reds remain five points ahead of Manchester City in the Premier League table but Pep Guardiola’s men have a game in hand
Liverpool created chances with ease and that was clearly a major positive. Even without Mohamed Salah, Liverpool has been superb for the last few weeks and once again carved out openings very easily, even against a good side.
Diogo Jota was excellent and Luis Díaz had his moments. Curtis Jones was very good and Alexis Mac Allister was even better. But this was Conor Bradley’s night. The young full-back did not put a foot wrong going either way.
Even though Núñez didn’t score, he was still very good overall. He could hardly have hit the woodwork more often and was involved in every aspect of the game aside from scoring. The truth is, if he was clinical as well as everything else, few would be able to match him the world over.
Bradley was never far from the ball, often putting in a perfectly-timed tackle to win back possession. After that, he scored a wonderful goal and set up two more. This was a performance that makes the case for Trent Alexander-Arnold playing in midfield look a little more reasonable. The 20-year-old was remarkably good and put in a statement showing.
The Bad
Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté were largely very dominant and helped Liverpool keep control of the game but they didn’t come away with a clean sheet. One lapse allowed Nkunku to score a good goal.
Elsewhere, from a Liverpool perspective at least, there was not much bad for Liverpool on an excellent night. Klopp wanted Dominik Szoboszlai to press a little quicker in the first half but that was nit-picking to say the least.
In the second period, the Liverpool manager was a lot calmer with the game won. Szoboszlai warmed into things and he, Jones and Mac Allister were dominant. The Reds’ press, in the main, was able to stifle Chelsea effectively, feeding off the Anfield energy.
The Ugly
Some of the playacting was not ideal. Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell was cautioned for throwing himself to the ground while Mykhailo Mudryk was another to go down a little easily at times. Chelsea felt that they should have had a couple of penalties but going down easily in other areas didn’t help, and Mauricio Pochettino admitted that Liverpool was a worthy winner regardless.
The referee, Paul Tierney, managed to get through the entirety of the clash without hearing his name being chanted by The Kop (if he had, it wouldn’t have been complimentary). The official was having none of the visitors’ nonsense.
