LONDON: Liverpool head for Leipzig on Wednesday in high spirits after surviving some moments of uncertainty to beat a spirited Chelsea 2-1 and maintain top spot in the Premier League. Victory kept them one point ahead of Manchester City after the champions’ earlier scrambled 2-1 victory over bottom club Wolves.
Manager Arne Slot would have been relieved to survive the first match of the most testing 10-match run of any team in the league. Following Chelsea will be a challenging schedule including not only RB Leipzig but domestic rivals including Arsenal next Sunday, in-form Brighton, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Tottenham.
No manager in Liverpool’s history had ever started his reign, like Slot, with 10 wins out of 11. His players maintained their form against one of their most improved pursuers at the start of a tough run of seven games in 20 days. Their preparation had been assisted by the early returns from international duty of captain Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.
Slot has not had to suffer the permanent injury crisis which had assailed Jurgen Klopp though he will be without goalkeeper Alisson until late November with a hamstring injury. Caoimhin Kelleher deputises with new signing Giorgi Mamardashvili loaned back to Valencia.
Liverpool wore black armbands in memory of Peter Cormack, a UEFA Cup winner against Borussia Monchengladbach in the UEFA Cup Final in 1973. They made an uncertain start before taking the lead with Salah’s seventh goal in 11 appearances this season.
The one-time Chelsea forward converted a penalty after Curtis Jones had been tripped by Levi Colwill. Nicolas Jackson was booked for protesting, just as Slot had been shown a yellow card minutes earlier for a gesture of dissent.
The goal encouraged Liverpool to raise their game. Cody Gakpo had a goal disallowed for offside then set up a chance wasted by Dominik Szoboszlai. Chelsea had another escape thanks to VAR which denied Liverpool a penalty for a collision between Jones and goalkeeper Roberto Sanchez.
Four minutes into the second half saw Chelsea pull level but for only two minutes. First Jackson was celebrating after bursting through the centre of Liverpool’s defence only to see the Reds respond almost immediately. This time Jones was not to be denied after running from deep to convert Salah’s right-wing cross.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca made four substitutions to try to rescue the game and one, Pedro Neto, provided a string of problems for Trent Alexander-Arnold. Chelsea proved unable to capitalise and Liverpool held out.
Earlier John Stones was Manchester City’s hero against Wolves after heading their winning goal from a corner in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Wolves complained in vain that Bernardo Silva had been offside, standing in front of the goalkeeper. Initially referee Chris Kavanagh disallowed the goal but changed his mind after viewing the replay.
Norwegian Jorgen Strand Larsen had put Wolves ahead after only seven minutes with City equalising with a fine goal from Josip Gvardiol. Their performance bore the mark of champions in that they took all three points despite not playing their best. Manager Pep Guardiola said: “It’s always very difficult against a team who defend with all 11 players. It’s a question of patience and talent.”
Wolves have failed to win any of their opening eight league games for the first time since 1983-84 when they were relegated.
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