Nicolas Jackson scored his fifth Premier League goal in eight games, but it wasn’t enough to steer Chelsea from defeat. Enzo Maresca’s men lost 2-1 to Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, but Chelsea can be proud of the fight they put up.
Jackson cancelled out Mohamed Salah’s opener as Chelsea briefly looked like securing a draw, but Liverpool immediately regained the lead through Curtis Jones. And then the Reds held off any comeback to pick up all three points.
Chelsea missed opportunities
Chelsea were fortunate not to go down to ten men just six minutes into the game after Tosin Adarabioyo committed a last-man foul on Diogo Jota. He was booked for hauling down the Liverpool forward and was incredibly lucky it wasn’t worse.
Chelsea’s luck ran out, however, with Adarabioyo’s defensive partner Levi Colwill giving away a penalty. Colwill appeared to kick the shin of Curtis Jones, though replays showed he made a meal of the challenge. Nevertheless, Mohamed Salah made no mistake from the spot, firing past Robert Sanchez to make it 1-0 to Liverpool.
Chelsea carved a good opportunity to equalise when Nicolas Jackson was put through on goal, but the angle was unfavourable and his effort narrowly went beyond the post.
Sanchez thought he’d given away a penalty after felling Jones in the area, but VAR overruled it after seeing he made contact with the ball first. Chelsea were buoyed by the decision and had a chance to level the game through Cole Palmer, but he curled his effort just over the bar.
Chelsea let themselves down after valiant effort
Chelsea finally found an equaliser just minutes into the second half through Jackson. He was picked out by Moises Caicedo after breaking the Liverpool trap and slotted past Caoimhín Kelleher. There was a VAR check for offside, but the goal stood.
Chelsea would throw it all away only three minutes later, however, with Jones scoring the winner for Liverpool. Jones was unmarked in the area after Chelsea’s line stepped up too late. Sanchez came out to meet him but wasn’t fast enough.
Chelsea had no answer to Jones’ goal and suffered their first Premier League defeat in two months.