An injury-time header
from substitute Christian Benteke cancelled out a stunning goal from Eden
Hazard as Liverpool and Chelsea drew 1-1 in the Premier League on Wednesday.
Benteke made the most of
an error from visiting goalkeeper Asmir Begovic to grab Liverpool an unlikely
point in manager Jurgen Klopp's 50th game in charge.
Hazard's fourth goal in
as many Premier League matches, a fine solo effort in the 32nd minute, had
appeared enough for Chelsea to become the first visiting side to win at Anfield
in the league since January 17.
Despite being without
suspended captain John Terry, Guus Hiddink's understrength team were within
touching distance of spoiling Liverpool's home farewell a week before they face
Sevilla in the Europa League final.
However, Begovic
presented Benteke with the chance to level matters in the third minute of
stoppage time when he palmed a deep cross to the Liverpool forward, who
gratefully headed home into an unguarded net.
With their trip to Basel
for the decider against Sevilla looming large on the horizon, Klopp selected
the same XI that had started the 3-0 home win over Villarreal in the second leg
of the Europa League semi-final.
Daniel Sturridge looked
eager to impress against one of his former clubs, drawing a foul from makeshift
centre-back John Obi Mikel – replacing the absent Terry in the heart of
Chelsea's defence – inside the opening minute.
Yet Liverpool – wearing
a new kit complete with gold trim around the neck – too often let Mikel and his
defensive colleagues off the hook.
Roberto Firmino summed
up the home side's slack play when he wasted a glorious one-on-one opportunity.
Carried wide by a needlessly heavy touch, the Brazilian's effort beat Begovic
but ended up in the side-netting.
Liverpool's sloppiness
was not just in attack either, as they backed off Hazard to allow him the
chance to break the deadlock.
The Belgian picked up
the ball out wide and despite being confronted by four red shirts during his
mazy run, never had to deal with a challenge. Allowed to progress to the edge
of the area, Hazard aimed a shot low into the right corner of the net.
Bertrand Traore had a
wonderful chance to double Chelsea's lead when he beat the hesitant Simon
Mignolet to an over-hit pass just before the break. However, with Liverpool's
goalkeeper caught out of position, the forward missed the target.
Mignolet was in the
right place to keep out a low drive from Hazard early in the second half, while
he also had to beat away a stinging drive from Pedro, complete with face mask
to protect a broken nose.
Begovic was occasionally
called into action at the other end, including denying Sturridge at close range
after the forward had been played through by Adam Lallana's wonderful reverse
pass.
Liverpool seemed to have
run out of ideas in attack until Begovic made a mess of substitute Sheyi Ojo's
cross, his inability to deal with the delivery allowing the hosts to level
right at the death.
Klopp will hope the
result keeps confidence levels high going into the final match of the league
season away to West Brom, followed by the showpiece game in Switzerland.
No comments:
Post a Comment