Cole Palmer finally ended his long goal drought as Chelsea battled to a huge 3-1 win over much-changed champions Liverpool in the Premier League.
Man-of-the-match Palmer netted a last-gasp penalty to settle late nerves at Stamford Bridge and seal a massive result in the race for a top-five finish and Champions League qualification next season, his first goal in 18 games after Virgil van Dijk’s header had set up a grandstand finish in west London following Jarell Quansah’s unfortunate own goal that added to an early strike from Enzo Fernandez.
The England star was inspirational throughout before scoring for the first time since the 2-2 home draw with Bournemouth on January 14, leading resurgent Chelsea to a fourth successive victory across all competitions that keeps them fifth behind fourth-place Newcastle on goals scored only with their points tallies and goal difference now both identical after the Carabao Cup winners needed a late penalty of their own from Alexander Isak to claim a lively draw at Brighton earlier on Sunday.
Sixth-place Nottingham Forest would join Newcastle and Chelsea on 63 points with just three games to go if they win away at FA Cup finalists Crystal Palace on Monday night. Aston Villa are currently also on 60 points in seventh after beating Fulham on Saturday.
Chelsea travel to face Newcastle next in what is a massive fixture and also go to Forest on the final day of the season.
Chelsea reverted back to the same team that narrowly defeated Everton at home last weekend as Nicolas Jackson scored for the first time since December, Enzo Maresca reversing all eight changes he made for Thursday’s 4-1 win over Djurgarden in their Conference League semi-final first-leg tie.
Robert Sanchez was fit to return in goal after missing the trip to Sweden with a knock, though the likes of Christopher Nkunku remained sidelined through injury.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot, meanwhile, was true to his word in terms of committing to a policy of squad rotation with the title sealed with four games to spare against Tottenham at Anfield last weekend, bringing in Quansah, Kostas Tsimikas, Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and Diogo Jota as Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Diaz all dropped to the bench.
It was their first league starts of the season in midfield for both Endo and Elliott.
After receiving a much-discussed and traditional guard of honour from their hosts, Liverpool lacked intensity early on and paid the price after only three minutes when Fernandez finished off a sweeping Chelsea move involving Romeo Lavia, Palmer and Pedro Neto to score the earliest Premier League goal at Stamford Bridge since 2017.
Cole Palmer finally ended his long goal drought as Chelsea battled to a huge 3-1 win over much-changed champions Liverpool in the Premier League.
Man-of-the-match Palmer netted a last-gasp penalty to settle late nerves at Stamford Bridge and seal a massive result in the race for a top-five finish and Champions League qualification next season, his first goal in 18 games after Virgil van Dijk’s header had set up a grandstand finish in west London following Jarell Quansah’s unfortunate own goal that added to an early strike from Enzo Fernandez.
The England star was inspirational throughout before scoring for the first time since the 2-2 home draw with Bournemouth on January 14, leading resurgent Chelsea to a fourth successive victory across all competitions that keeps them fifth behind fourth-place Newcastle on goals scored only with their points tallies and goal difference now both identical after the Carabao Cup winners needed a late penalty of their own from Alexander Isak to claim a lively draw at Brighton earlier on Sunday.
Sixth-place Nottingham Forest would join Newcastle and Chelsea on 63 points with just three games to go if they win away at FA Cup finalists Crystal Palace on Monday night. Aston Villa are currently also on 60 points in seventh after beating Fulham on Saturday.
Chelsea travel to face Newcastle next in what is a massive fixture and also go to Forest on the final day of the season.
Chelsea reverted back to the same team that narrowly defeated Everton at home last weekend as Nicolas Jackson scored for the first time since December, Enzo Maresca reversing all eight changes he made for Thursday’s 4-1 win over Djurgarden in their Conference League semi-final first-leg tie.
Robert Sanchez was fit to return in goal after missing the trip to Sweden with a knock, though the likes of Christopher Nkunku remained sidelined through injury.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot, meanwhile, was true to his word in terms of committing to a policy of squad rotation with the title sealed with four games to spare against Tottenham at Anfield last weekend, bringing in Quansah, Kostas Tsimikas, Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and Diogo Jota as Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Diaz all dropped to the bench.
It was their first league starts of the season in midfield for both Endo and Elliott.
After receiving a much-discussed and traditional guard of honour from their hosts, Liverpool lacked intensity early on and paid the price after only three minutes when Fernandez finished off a sweeping Chelsea move involving Romeo Lavia, Palmer and Pedro Neto to score the earliest Premier League goal at Stamford Bridge since 2017.
[Yahoo Sport]