“Reposted from Online Mail”
What a way to start the party! Jurgen Klopp’s Reds are five-star champions as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain puts a stop to the Blues’ Christian Pulisic-inspired comeback.
- Premier League champions Liverpool took the lead through a blistering Naby Keita strike on 23 minutes
- Trent Alexander-Arnold doubled their advantage 15 minutes later with a beautiful curling free-kick
- Georginio Wijnaldum volleyed Liverpool’s third just before half-time after Chelsea failed to deal with a corner
- Chelsea pulled one back in first-half injury time through Olivier Giroud who bundled home from close range
- Roberto Firmino restored Liverpool’s three-goal lead with his first league goal of the season at Anfield
- Substitute Tammy Abraham made it 4-2 after a breathtaking dribble and cross from Christian Pulisic
- Pulisic then scored to make it 4-3 before Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made it 5-3 to the Premier League winners
- The result means Chelsea must at least draw at home to Wolves on Sunday to finish inside the top four
Long before the festivities began, this match was being played out in a swirl of gunsmoke. It was somehow rather fitting. Liverpool are a team that have always played better with a whiff or cordite in the nostrils.
The fireworks had been sounding throughout the second-half. Private and local, not the display that would mark the trophy ceremony, rumoured to cost £1million. In the distance, the sound of car horns. This was a city gearing up for another monster celebration and to hell with social distancing.
Merseyside Police had announced a dispersal zone in anticipation of the eruption to come. Probably the quietest locale was inside Anfield, where the cheers that greeted another match won couldn’t possibly compete with the fervour beyond those four walls.
