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Liverpool fades, Chelsea recover to leave City winners

January 3, 2022
Henry Club

Sunday’s lone winner was Manchester City. And Romelu Lukaku definitely lost.

What a pulsating, entertaining encounter for Lukaku to remember – not out of his own choosing – as Chelsea recovered to a 2-2 draw with Liverpool without the temporarily relegated striker.

This put City at the top of the Premier League, 10 points behind Chelsea with Liverpool one more point behind.

The Sky Blue Ribbons look to be holding onto the trophy for another year thanks to a fading challenge from the chasing pack.

Even before this, Liverpool have been the hardest hit by players going into the African Cup of Nations. Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah contributed to Liverpool’s goals, before leaving for more than a month.

Liverpool looked to coast, but twice at the end of the first half a volley from Matteo Kovacic and a strike from Christian Pulisic pulled Chelsea level.

It was an entertaining and wild game that was only quelled after Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy’s goalkeeping negated the reflexes of Salah and Liverpool’s Kaoimahin Kelleher, thwarting Pulisic’s search for a winner.

Walk away and you can miss another wonderful moment. It was a game to keep fans on their toes – which they could legally do in parts of Premier League stadiums as part of a standings trial for the first time in 28 years.

However there were no standings or seats for Chelsea’s record-signer Lukaku, who was dropped by manager Thomas Tuchel for questioning his limited role in the team.

Only 15 seconds into the game, it looked like Mane would also have no other role to play in the game.

Mane immediately faced referee action, elbowing Cesar Azpilicueta in the face while trying to defeat the Chelsea captain. But he escaped with only one booking – the first ever recorded in a Premier League match.

This meant that Mane was still on the pitch to score the opener in the ninth minute.

Trevoh Chaloba’s weak lead clearance opened the door for Mane to score Mendy and net the ball past the hapless Azpilicueta.

Chelsea was withered and seemed to be tingling. Especially when Salah’s flashes in the 26th minute helped Liverpool.

The top scorer was involved in the buildup before Trent Alexander-Arnold received the ball back and controlled it from behind Marcos Alonso and squeezed a shot to Mendy at his near post.

It was the latest moment of astonishment for the striker enjoying another standout season, scoring 23 goals, including 16 in the league.

Liverpool was cruising. Soon it started cursing.

At the end of the first half, the game turned around within three minutes.

A free kick from the right was made clear by Kelher but only to the edge of the penalty area. Unbalanced but still able to make a clean first time connection, Matteo Kovacic lofts effectively into the top corner from inside the post.

Chelsea’s concern that the target could be dismissed for an offside soon subsided to new celebrations. And Chelsea were celebrating fast again in stoppage time when Pulisic leveled after being released by N’Golo Kante and picking up a shot at Kelleher.

Pulisic’s third goal in 11 league appearances this season saved Chelsea a point that seemed out of reach.

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