A draw between Liverpool and Chelsea at Anfield left both sides assessing where they stand in the Champions League race. Ryan Gravenberch\u2019s sixth-minute stunner put Liverpool ahead early, but Chelsea responded through Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s drifting free kick that evaded everybody and beat Giorgi Mamardashvili.<\/p>\n
Liverpool were missing key personnel: Mohamed Salah, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 were unavailable. In their absence Rio Ngumoha emerged as the clear creative focal point. He had 19 touches in the first half, completed three of four dribbles and repeatedly troubled Malo Gusto. Ngumoha\u2019s decision to come inside and his weighted pass into space allowed Gravenberch to curl the early strike into the top corner. His withdrawal in the 66th minute prompted boos from the crowd, reflecting confusion at the substitution.<\/p>\n
Dominik Szoboszlai\u2019s thunderous free-kick struck the wall before play worked out to Ngumoha, whose pass created Gravenberch\u2019s opportunity. Despite the positive moments, Liverpool were warned by the result. The draw is not a disaster, but the Reds could drop to fifth and be only three points clear of sixth if Aston Villa and Bournemouth secure positive results.<\/p>\n
For Chelsea a draw was a useful outcome after six successive Premier League defeats prior to the trip to Merseyside. Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez, whose recent absence included an internal two-game suspension, has returned in strong form. Operating higher and linking with Cole Palmer, Fern\u00e1ndez exploited spaces left by Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 and Curtis Jones\u2019s lack of communication and helped shift momentum during periods of the first half.<\/p>\n
Marc Cucurella, deployed on the left wing by stand-in manager Calum McFarlane, provided energy and combinations with Fern\u00e1ndez and Jo\u00e3o Pedro. He was almost decisive early in the second half but a VAR offside call ruled out the move when Mois\u00e9s Caicedo played him through.<\/p>\n
Jeremie Frimpong continues to struggle for rhythm after injuries, attempting just two dribbles and completing none, with one cross, one defensive contribution and one tackle recorded by FotMob. Cody Gakpo offered little up front, with 77 minutes, 12 touches and eight passes and no shot on Filip J\u00f6rgensen\u2019s goal. Levi Colwill, making his first Premier League start of the season after a torn ACL, enjoyed an easier afternoon than many expected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gravenberch’s early goal and Enzo Fernandez’s free kick ensured a draw that exposed winners. on show<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,175,172],"tags":[1637,1305,1304],"class_list":["post-13718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-liverpool","category-epl","tag-assists","tag-bench-selection","tag-benching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}