Liverpool vs. Chelsea: Winners and Losers from Premier League
Liverpool and Chelsea played to a meaningless 1-1 draw on Wednesday night at Anfield, with an Asmir Begovic howler leading to a late, late Christian Benteke equaliser.
Eden Hazard had given the Blues the lead in the first half, but both sides looked fairly evenly matched throughout, with each enjoying spells of dominance and carving out clear chances on goal. Sadly for manager Guus Hiddink, yet another clean sheet slipped through his fingers, though, as Begovic contrived to literally throw two points away late on.
“We know that when we play as a team we are tough to beat,” Kolo Toure told Sky Sports’ live broadcast after the game, revelling in the late equaliser.
Here, B/R picks its winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Eden Hazard, Chelsea
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Well, hello, Eden Hazard!
The 2015 PFA Player of the Year has endured a miserable season, but over the last few weeks, he has begun to turn the corner after finding fitness and solving a hip issue. Now, it appears, he’s absolutely flying; his performance at Anfield on Wednesday was nothing short of breathtaking.
His weaving dribbles flummoxed defenders, and his cutting passing took midfielders out of the game. The goal he scored saw him beat about five players before slotting past Simon Mignolet, silencing the stands as every fan busied themselves with picking their jaw back up off the floor.
Loser: Dejan Lovren, Liverpool
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Liverpool fans will be hoping and praying that Dejan Lovren’s poor performance was well-timed. If he gets it all out of his system now, ahead of the UEFA Europa League final, supporters will quickly forgive him.
He (along with many others) should have done a lot better for Hazard’s mesmeric goal, and being beaten so easily appeared to drain the confidence from his game. Positionally, he looked suspect all game, and his distribution was terrible—at one point, he straight up passed the ball out of play under no pressure. Remarkable.
Winner: Tammy Abraham, Chelsea
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Eighteen-year-old Tammy Abraham is a winner simply for making it off the bench. If you’re a teenager and you play for Chelsea, it’s hard to get game time, so props to this young man for impressing Hiddink enough to earn 18 minutes.
It’s about time another debut was handed out, as the Blues’ season has been over for months. Fans are growing agitated by the fact Hiddink isn’t giving the club’s plethora of young stars even a glimmer of hope of making the first team—something he promised to do earlier in the season—and it’s confusing as to why 20-year-old Ruben Loftus-Cheek gets given just 45 seconds at the end of a truly meaningless match.
But for Abraham, this was a landmark occasion, and he grasped it. He combined slickly once with Hazard on the left and showed quick feet to evade a challenge. It wasn’t the busiest of involvements, but he’ll never forget it.
Loser: Asmir Begovic, Chelsea
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Since replacing Thibaut Courtois at the Etihad Stadium in April, Begovic has been given a decent run in the Chelsea first team. With Courtois also hinting in the media that he would leave the club due to the fact they weren’t in the Champions League—comments he has since papered over, per Le Parisien (h/t Eurosport)—it made sense to try out the No. 2 in case the No. 1 forced an exit.
Well, mark this performance down in the “how not to audition for a top club’s goalkeeping role” column. Begovic looked shaky and frightful throughout, failing to catch routine shots and leaving his line unconvincingly to punch. All evening long, it felt as though a clanger was a matter of when, not if, and in stoppage time in the second half, it arrived.
Sheyi Ojo’s hopeful, whipped cross evaded every attacker and defender in the box, but unchallenged and unprompted, Begovic weakly palmed it straight to Benteke, who slid home with ease.
