Liverpool Sink Chelsea 2-1

A late strike from former Chelsea full back Glen Johnson helped Liverpool to claim all three points and gave the Stamford Bridge side their second home defeat in row for the first time in over nine years.


The Anfield side had gone into a deserved first half lead, with Maxi Rodriguez opening the scoring, before substitute Daniel Sturridge got Andre Villas-Boas side level before Johnson claimed all three points.

The victory puts the Reds level with the hosts, who lost further ground on the two Manchester clubs at the top of the Premier League. 

Chelsea started the game with former Liverpool pair Raul Meireles and Fernando Torres being forced to start on the bench, while Kenny Dalglish handed surprise starts to both Craig Bellamy and Maxi Rodriguez.

Within the first two minutes of the game, the visitors were claiming for a free kick and for Chelsea skipper John Terry to be sent off, as Luis Suarez played a through ball towards Rodriguez, with the Argentinean seeming to be blocked by Terry, but the referee waved play on. 

With ten minutes gone in the half the home side got their first proper chance of the game, as a ball from the left hand side by Florent Malouda found Juan Mata at the back post, but his ball across the face of goal was cleared by the Liverpool defence before Didier Drogba could get to the ball.

Both sides continued to press back and forth, with firstly John Obi Mikel having a long range effort for Chelsea that went just over the bar, then Liverpool went down the other end and 
Petr Cech was forced to smother the ball before Glen Johnson could get a cross in.

Midway through the half, the home end of Stamford Bridge rose to cheer what they believed to be a goal, as Drogba struck a free kick, with Pepe Reina looking like he was well beaten, but fortunately for the Liverpool keeper, the ball hit off the advertising boards and went behind the goal.

The Reds continued to pressure their London hosts, with some incisive passing which led to them getting the first goal, as Mikel lost the ball from a Cech pass, giving Liverpool possession, which they capitalised on as Bellamy eventually found Rodriguez in space and he tucked the ball over the diving Chelsea stopper to open the scoring.

The visitors continued to press at Chelsea’s fragile defence, with David Luiz giving away a free kick just outside the box that allowed Suarez to try his luck with the set piece, but the Uruguayan frontman couldn’t find the target, as his strike went over the bar.

Luiz nearly cost his side again a minute later, as Suarez broke the offside trap and raced past the Blues centre half, before attempting to cross the ball into the box, but it deflected off of the Brazilian and away for a corner, much to the relief of everyone in blue in Stamford Bridge as Villas-Boas side went in a break only trailing by a single goal.  

Maxi effort | Liverpool winger tussles with Ivanovic

With his side being a goal down at the break, Chelsea boss Villas-Boas decided to make a change by bringing on Sturridge to replace the ineffective Mikel, as the home side looked to push forward a lot more in search of an equaliser.

They should have got level only minutes into the half as Frank Lampard found Drogba on the edge of the area and the forward aided by a deflection from a Liverpool defender on the ground, got the ball into the box, but his shot went well wide of Reina’s goal.

Chelsea finally got their equaliser ten minutes into the half as Terry made a forward run with the ball, before finding Malouda, who raced forward before hitting a mishit shot from the edge of the area that was eventually tapped in by Sturridge.

Villas-Boas side should have taken the lead a couple of minutes later as Drogba curled in a free kick from just outside the area that was knocked on by the onrushing Branislav Ivanovic, with Reina having to make a spectacular save in order to keep the sides level.

The momentum of the first quarter of an hour of the half helped the Stamford Bridge crowd to find their voice, as their team continued to press forward, with Malouda racing to the by line before crossing for Drogba, who knocked the ball just wide of Reina’s right hand post.

Liverpool nearly suffered a calamitous error as Terry launched a ball long in search of Drogba and as the striker raced on the ball, but before he could get there Reina launched his head to the ball, just outside his own area and luckily for the Spaniard the ball broke to him at the second attempt to clear from danger.

The home side continued to create, with Ramires finding Mata, who then chipped the ball towards Malouda inside the area, but the French winger’s overhead kick went well wide of Reina’s goal.

Malouda, once again could have got his name on the scoresheet as he met a cross from Ivanovic at the back post, but as before he mishit the shot and fortunately for the Liverpool defence there was no player in blue waiting to pounce on the ball.

With less than ten minutes left on the clock, Villas-Boas decided to bring on his former Anfield pair of Meireles and Torres, as they searched for that vital goal to give them all three points and close the gap on the top two.

Liverpool could have claimed all three points, as substitute Jordan Henderson skipped down the right wing, before crossing to fellow sub Stewart Downing, who laid the ball off to Dirk Kuyt, but his tame shot failed to trouble Cech.

But only a minute later they did get a second as Kuyt found Johnson free on the right wing and he cut inside and put the ball by the outstretched arms of Cech and into the back of the net, to the delight of the travelling band of Liverpool supporters.

The visitors hung on for the reminder of the game and claimed a vital three points that put them level with Chelsea in the league table.

Manchester City's Roberto Mancini: We Won’t Enjoy An Unbeaten Season

The Etihad Stadium side maintained their five point lead at the top of the league after beating Alan Pardew's side 3-1 but the Italian feels that his team will suffer defeat

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has admitted that his side are unlikely to go through the entire Premier League season unbeaten despite seeing them comfortably beatNewcastle 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium.

Mario Balotelli, Micah Richards and Sergio Aguero all got on the scoresheet before a late Dan Gosling strike for the visitors rounded off the clash, as Mancini's men moved eight points clear at the top of the table ahead of Manchester United's visit to Swansea City.

The victory was City's 11th in 12 Premier League games but Mancini is "sure" that his side will eventually slip up during the campaign, despite being impressed with their performance in what he believed was a tough fixture.

"Today was a really difficult match because Newcastle is a strong team, they have played very well and we knew this," he said. "After the international break is always difficult.

"Before the game I told the guys that it was going to be difficult - and if we want to win this game then we should play very well today.

"We played very well, we had a lot of possession, we scored three goals, we had other chances but in some moments we were also lucky.

"I hope that we can continue like this but in the 26 games that we have there will be a time that we will lose a game, I'm sure. But I'm happy for the players and I think we're playing very well because we have good players.

"The team has improved a lot, as players, as a team. I think we are a very strong team now but we should think that the season is long and probably there will be a difficult moment. For this reason it's important now if you can score goals and you can win. It's important."

Balotelli opened the scoring with an audaciously taken penalty on the 41st minute following a handball from Ryan Taylor and Mancini was full of praise for the 21-year-old, whom he described as a "great" player.
"With penalties Mario is fabulous. It's impossible for him to miss one penalty, I don't know why. He shoots very well.

"Mario is a very important player, he's a great player like all the players at Man City. He's becoming better and better and training well.
"Mario's doing all the work, I'm just helping him to not waste his talent become the player that he can become. The rest is up to him. It's possible that he will play in Naples."
Mancini opted to start with the talismanic David Silva on the bench at the Etihad Stadium and the Italian explained that the Spain international was in need of rest following Spain's 2-2 draw against Costa Rica in midweek.

"David [Silva], if he could, would play all the games but it's impossible like the other players," he said. "Sometimes he needs to rest. He arrived on Thursday from Costa Rica and he was tired for this reason."