Ryan Gravenberch curled Liverpool into a sixth-minute lead with a sublime opener in the Premier League at Anfield on Saturday as Chelsea faced a seventh straight top-flight defeat.
Wing prodigy Rio Ngumoha cut inside from the left and fed Gravenberch to bend the ball past Filip Jorgensen and put the hosts on course to all-but seal Champions League qualification with the Netherlands international’s sixth goal of the season in all competitions.
Ryan Gravenberch opens the scoring with an absolute screamer 🚀
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“It’s all about the first touch,” former Scotland striker Ally McCoist told TNT Sports of Gravenberch. “It sets it up, beautiful.
“It’s a fantastic finish. He takes it away from [Malo] Gusto and gives himself the space from Ngumoha’s pass.”
Chelsea are at risk of missing out entirely on European football next season and started three points behind seventh-placed Brentford with three matches remaining.
Liverpool vs Chelsea analysis: Gravenberch goal ‘brilliant’
McCoist pondered whether Jorgensen – deputising for the injured Robert Sanchez – may have been unsighted for the goal.
“It’s not in the corner,” added McCoist. “Take nothing away. What a goal. It’s a brilliant goal – I do not want to take it away from Gravenberch at all.”
Liverpool are seeking a third successive top-flight home win, although they lost 3-2 at Manchester United on Sunday.
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Liverpool team vs Chelsea
Giorgi Mamardashvili made his comeback in goal in one of three Liverpool changes, Milos Kerkez and 17-year-old Ngumoha also coming in.
Alexander Isak returned from injury on the bench, where Freddie Woodman and Andy Robertson moved to. Florian Wirtz was ill.
Alisson Becker and Mohamed Salah are yet to resume training and Stefan Bajcetic, Conor Bradley, Hugo Ekitike, Wataru Endo and Giovanni Leoni have long-term injuries.
Liverpool starting XI: Giorgi Mamardashvili, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Milos Kerkez, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones, Cody Gakpo, Jeremie Frimpong, Ryan Gravenberch, Rio Ngumoha
Liverpool substitutes: Freddie Woodman, Joe Gomez, Alexander Isak, Federico Chiesa, Andy Robertson, Trey Nyoni, Kieran Morrison, Mor Talla Ndiaye, Callum Wright
Chelsea team vs Liverpool
Levi Colwill was back in the Chelsea starting line-up following a serious knee injury and fellow defender Reece James returned on the bench.
Centre-back Colwill was one of five new faces in the visitors’ line-up from their 3-1 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest on Monday, with Jorgensen, Wesley Fofana Jorrel Hato and Andrey Santos also coming in.
Tosin Adarabioyo, Trevoh Chalobah and Romeo Lavia moved to the bench and Jesse Derry and Sanchez dropped out because of head injuries.
Alejandro Garnacho and Pedro Neto were absent with knocks. Willian Estevao is out for the rest of the season and Jamie Gittens has a hamstring injury.
Chelsea starting XI: Filip Jorgensen, Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana, Levi Colwill, Marc Cucurella, Jorrel Hato, Moises Caicedo, Andrey Santos, Enzo Fernandez, Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro
Chelsea substitutes: Gabriel Slonina, Reece James, Josh Acheampong, Tosin Adarabioyo, Trevoh Chalobah, Romeo Lavia, Mathis Eboue, Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, Liam Delap
Where to watch Liverpool vs Chelsea: TV channel, live online streams
The match kicked off at 12:30 GMT (07:30 ET / 04:30 PT) on Saturday. Live TV coverage in the UK is on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate.
Streaming is on the HBO Max app. TNT Sports costs £30.99 a month and is available on a vast range of devices including smart TVs and gaming consoles.
Here’s the full list of Premier League broadcasters in different territories.
Liverpool vs Chelsea stats
- Liverpool have lost their last two Premier League games against Chelsea, which is as many as they had in their previous 20 (W8 D10)
- They last lost three in a row against the Blues between December 2013 and November 2014
- With 11 Premier League defeats this season, Liverpool have suffered their most top-flight losses since the 2014/15 campaign under Brendan Rodgers, when they lost 12
- Not since 2009/10 (19) have they registered more losses than their 18 in all competitions this time around
- No Liverpool player has more goals and assists combined than Dominik Szoboszlai in all competitions this season (13 goals, 10 assists). The midfielder is the first Reds midfielder to have totalled at least 10 goals and 10 assists in a season since Steven Gerrard in 2013/14 (14 goals, 14 assists)
- Chelsea have lost their last six Premier League games – only once in their league history have they ever lost seven in a row, across November and December 1952
- Following their 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge in October, Chelsea are looking to complete the league double over Liverpool for the first time since 2013/14
- They have won one of their last 10 Premier League away games against Liverpool (D5 L4), with a 1-0 victory in March 2021 under Thomas Tuchel
- Having conceded in each of their last 14 Premier League games – including three goals in four of their last five – Chelsea are on their longest run without a league clean sheet since a sequence of 17 games between March and August 1991 (17)
- Joao Pedro is Chelsea’s top scorer in both the league (15) and all competitions (20) this season and has been directly involved in seven of the Blues’ last nine Premier League goals, scoring six and assisting one
