Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-1 at Anfield on Sunday afternoon as Arne Slot’s side returned to the top of the Premier League table.
An end-to-end first half failed to create any real chances of note before Curtis Jones produced a brilliant block on Cole Palmer, and then raced into the Chelsea box to win a penalty.
Salah converted from the spot and Liverpool were in the ascendancy from there, with Cody Gakpo having a goal ruled out before half-time.
The second half started in a similarly frantic fashion, though Chelsea landed the first blow, equalising quickly after Nicolas Jackson latched onto a brilliant through ball from Moises Caicedo.
But parity was short-lived, as Curtis Jones got to the end of a Salah cross to poke past Sanchez for 2-1 in the 51st minute.
The rest of the half was far less eventful, with neither side managing to fashion a chance of note before seven minutes were added on.
The home side looked to close out the game as the Blues tried to mount some final attacks, and the Reds’ defence stood firm to confirm the three points.
Curtis Jones Embodies Liverpool's Spirit
When Arne Slot had suggested Chelsea were potential champions, it posed the question of whether they could keep up with Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool. It soon transpired they could not keep up with the Joneses.
Or not Curtis Jones, anyway. Winners are not always scored by the best player on the pitch but, in a match that could shape two clubs’ seasons, this one was. Jones’ display of extraordinary dynamism restored Liverpool to the top of the table. It meant that Chelsea, already beaten by Manchester City, have failed their two biggest tests of the season so far. Liverpool, now seven points clear of them, have passed their toughest.
They did so courtesy of a couple of very different indictments of Chelsea’s transfer business. Many a charge can be levelled at Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital but it was a previous Chelsea regime who let Mohamed Salah leave. With a goal and an assist, he gave them added reasons to regret a past mistake. If Jones is precisely the kind of player the modern-day Chelsea would sell, Liverpool do not need to dispense with homegrown talents for pure profit. Jones joined them at nine. At 23, he had one of his finest afternoons in a red shirt.
Chelsea's Defensive Woes Exposed
From Chelsea’s point of view, the pundits are unsure on the role of Sanchez when they conceded the second goal.
“It’s so poor from Chelsea’s point [of view]. Reece James ambles in there,” says Carragher.
“The goalkeeper is so poor. It was a poor touch from Curtis Jones really, and it’s poor from the goalkeeper, Robert Sanchez.
“Sanchez has got to go and win that ball.
“Jones should be terrified that a goalkeeper is coming towards him. You have got to get there and hope it hits you in the face and you keep it out.
“Chelsea need a new goalkeeper if they want to get back to where they want to be,” he adds.
Slot's Side Proving Their Mettle
Arne Slot is understandably delighted as he speaks to Sky.
“In the meantime, we created a few very good chances, and were a bit unlucky with some decisions,” he adds.
“I think it could’ve been a crucial decision to overturn the referee’s decision [on the penalty]. If you look at it on a screen, you still feel it is a penalty.”
He adds that he thinks the early last-man challenge from Tosin on Jota was also a red card.
“The fans helped us a lot, it probably comes from these decisions.
“In the end, a good win against a very strong Chelsea,” he says, before adding that Curtis Jones put in a “very good individual performance”.
“Curtis had a difficult job, he had to control Cole Palmer, which is not easy. He was very important for us on both parts of the pitch.
“Everybody who saw the game knows it wasn’t easy. For us it’s very good that we made a bit of a gap now.”
A Battle for the Top
Liverpool’s clash with Chelsea on Sunday will bring back special memories for Conor Bradley.
Fresh from captaining Northern Ireland in Tuesday’s 5-0 rout of Bulgaria in Belfast, the 21-year-old has returned to the club’s Kirkby training ground with a spring in his step before their next Premier League match.
Taking the armband for his country was just the latest step in Bradley’s outstanding 2024, and two meetings with Chelsea feature prominently in that story.
The first came on January 31 in a 4-1 win over the Londoners at Anfield, as Bradley got his first Liverpool goal and added two assists in a man-of-the-match display.
The best beginning to a reign made by any Liverpool manager is only a start. Arne Slot has found ways of deflecting the compliments his immediate impact at Anfield has generated. He has referenced the reality that some of his predecessors’ medal collections are sufficiently impressive that they do not need to be judged by their first 10 games or an early-season status as league leaders. He has cited the relatively kind fixture list: Liverpool have played the teams currently occupying 17th, 11th, 14th, 10th, 13th, 20th and 18th places. Their Carabao Cup win was against the club in 12th. Their Champions League victories were against the sides sitting sixth and 13th respectively in Serie A.
And now it gets harder. Liverpool’s next month amounts to a barometer of their prospects, a test of whether they are title challengers, potential Champions League winners, able to retain the Carabao Cup that proved Jurgen Klopp’s last trophy. It is Chelsea, RB Leipzig, Arsenal, Brighton, Brighton again, Bayer Leverkusen and Aston Villa, a seven-game stretch that could derail Liverpool’s ambitions or serve as a springboard to a challenge on multiple fronts.
For Slot, it amounts to a voyage of discovery. Have his first 10 games given him a clear idea of what Liverpool can achieve or is he still trying to find out himself?
