Following a string of poor results in the Premier League, Chelsea have finally secured a statement win, and that too against defending champions Liverpool. Moises Caicedo scored a brilliant goal in the 14th minute to give the Blues the lead. Cody Gakpo equalised in the 63rd minute, and it looked almost certain to end in a draw. However, Estevao had other plans. The Brazilian wonderkid slotted home the winner in stoppage time to send Stamford Bridge into a frenzy.
Liverpool, who had made a strong start to the season, were stopped in their tracks by Crystal Palace last week and have now been dealt another blow by Chelsea. That has allowed Arsenal to go top, while the Blues have now climbed up to sixth.
The Blues dominated the majority of the game and were deserved winners on the night. It seems Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella has recently highlighted one of the reasons behind that.
Cucurella, who provided the assist for Estevao's decisive goal, recently revealed a flaw in Liverpool’s tactical setup involving Mohamed Salah. The Spanish international spoke to Sky Sports (via Liverpool.com) and explained how Chelsea took advantage of that weakness. He said:
"We try to attack always because we know Salah is always ready to counter-attack, so we practice and the manager always tells us the space is maybe there.
"We saw it was the last minute, I think we created good chances but I thought we were going to score, and I tried to give my last effort, and it ends up being a good ball.
"I think they play one style of game where Salah is always ready to attack so we prepare for that. If we do a good process, maybe we will have a lot of space in there. Today it works, and we won the game in this way."
Marc Cucurella reveals Liverpool's Mohamed Salah flaw Chelsea used to their advantage
Chelsea currently sit in sixth place with 11 points from seven matches. The win against Liverpool was their first victory in the last four games and one they needed badly amid a poor run of form.
The Blues have faced criticism lately for several issues, including their failure to build a strong defence and to secure a reliable goalkeeper. However, this latest triumph might help ease some of that pressure from the critics.
That said, Chelsea are still far from their best and will need to improve in several areas if they are to compete for major trophies. The team remains in transition, and players like Jamie Gittens and Jorrel Hato need time to settle in before they can make an impact.
Nevertheless, there are many positives to take from this matchup. Beating the defending Premier League champions is no easy feat, and Chelsea played very well to achieve that. Now it will be interesting to see if they can carry this momentum forward after the international break, when they face Nottingham Forest. Hopefully, Enzo Maresca will have a few more players back to fitness by then.