A José Mourinho masterclass in well-drilled defending and team work has put Chelsea back in the Premier League title race
See Tom Jenkins's best images from the game
4.10pm BST
That was some performance from Chelsea. It wasn't pretty and at no point was it too easy on the eye but the shape and discipline that he instilled in his team was incredibly effective and has resulted in Liverpool's title celebrations being put on ice for now. Liverpool found it tough to break them down and for once this season, really looked shorn of ideas and imagination and resulted to pot-shots from distance. It will be interesting to see just how they react against Palace in their next game. Thanks for all your emails, tweets and comments and enjoy the rest of your weekend. Bye!
4.02pm BST
Over to you Manchester City.
4.01pm BST
Every single Liverpool player was in the Chelsea half trying to get their attack on. That they were doing but a Liverpool player got caught in possession just outside the box by Willian. He broke forward and played the ball to Torres. He had the entire Liverpool half to himself like he did against Barcelona a few years ago to run into and run he did. Once he reached the goal, Willian had caught up and Mignolet came out. All Torres had to do then was just square the ball to Willian who walked it into the net. Mourinho celebrated by running up and down the line and beating his chest.
. @ianmccourt Mourinho celebrated like a crazy old homeless man that had has shopping cart stolen
3.58pm BST
Game. Over. Title. Race. On.
3.57pm BST
90 + 2 mins Corner to Liverpool even though it should've been a goalkick to Chelsea. Liverpool play it short. It is sent in and sent out. It comes to the foot of Suárez. He hits a vicious enough volley but Schwarzer palms it out to safety. Another corner to Liverpool. With plenty of players in the the box, Aspas plays it short to a Willian and immediately earns the wrath of every single Liverpool fan around the world.
3.56pm BST
90 + 1 mins "Stevie G really does love to try and win it by himself, doesn't he?" says Zach Eaton-Rosen. "Seems like all he's doing is ruining good build-up at the moment and wasting it with 25-yard drives."
3.55pm BST
90 mins Liverpool have more four more minutes to try find a goal
3.54pm BST
88 mins Matic takes hold of the ball in the middle and twinkle-toes his way forward for a bit to try play the clock down. He is robbed of possession and Liverpool try to get the ball down the other end of the pitch. However, they only succeed in giving the ball right back to Chelsea.
3.51pm BST
86 mins Liverpool are passing the ball around but going nowhere. Gerrard tries to take them somewhere but his shot from 30 yards out is a real waste of possession. He is trying to win it on his own now and failing.
3.49pm BST
84 mins On comes Torres for Ba. Neither player get a great reception from the home fans.
3.48pm BST
83 mins A corner to Liverpool after some neat work from Sterling on the left. That is swung over and Gerrard gets a head on it. Chelsea clear but only as far as Coutinho, located on the edge of the box. He shoots wildly but earns a corner nonetheless. Liverpool waste that.
3.46pm BST
81 mins Aspas comes on for Flanagan. Liverpool go to three at the back.
3.45pm BST
80 mins Liverpool go on the attack. Sterling, on the edge of the area, slips the ball to Suárez. He dithers before looking up and picking out a Gerrard run. The Uruguayan clips the ball to his captain but there is no pace on his pass and Gerrard's header is weak, allowing Schwarzer to gather it with ease.
3.43pm BST
78 mins Schürrle, by the way, had been excellent this afternoon. Looked a threat on the break and worked his socks off all day.
3.42pm BST
77 mins José is shutting up the shop. Schürrle leaves and on comes Cahill.
3.40pm BST
75 mins "I didn't necessarily expect us to win the game," says Tom Barneby, "but I did expect us to try and play the same way that's served us so well. Our passing has been wayward and slow and there's no movement off the ball. If they're massing men behind the ball, we have to at least show for the ball. We're never going to score like this." Spot. On. Liverpool have looked really short on ideas and imagination since first peep of the referee's whistle.
3.38pm BST
73 mins Another corner to Liverpool. Matic deals with it easily enough. Chelsea try to counter from it but Willian's pass to Ba is too short and Johnson is there to snuff out the danger on the half-way line.
3.37pm BST
72 mins A sensational, curling cross from Gerrard (from left to right) looks to be heading for the head of Sterling until up pops Azpilicueta to knock it out for a corner. Liverpool do nowt with that.
3.35pm BST
70 mins A free-kick to Chelsea wide on their left, near the corner of the Liverpool box. Lampard takes this but, once again, his dead ball fails to get past the first man. The camera pans to some home fans, they are all chewing their nails like they would a stick of gum.
3.33pm BST
67 mins Liverpool's turn to attack. Pass, pass, pass goes the ball. It finally reaches the foot of Gerrard, just outside the box. He takes a touch, brings the ball inside a bit and hits with hope. It is rammed right down the throat of Schwarzer.
3.31pm BST
66 mins MBM correspondent Matt Dony is alive and well, sorta: "It's good of Simon to ask. I'll level with you all (as we're all friends here), I'm not doing well. I'm overtired, I've got a horrible week in work ahead, and I'm scared Gerrard is going to go all 2008ish, try too hard to be superman, and shoot from anywhere. It was only the City game that finally convinced me that the title was possible. Two brief weeks of hope, and it could all go up in smoke. Life. Don't talk to me about life."
3.30pm BST
64 mins Chelsea are back on the attack. Willian breaks with speed forcing the Liverpool defence back towards their goal. He could try do it all himself but he instead passes to Ba. The Chelsea striker dallies on the ball for far too long and the defence recover to smother his shot.
3.27pm BST
62 mins Liverpool build from the back and soon work the ball out to the left and then to the right and Johnson, via Coutinho. The ball comes back to the Brazilian but his effort is sliced well wide. Meanwhile, down the other end Schürrle gathers the ball on the left and is allowed the time and space to cut inside. This he does and he forces Mignolet into a very, very good save.
3.25pm BST
60 mins On comes Willian, off goes Salah.
3.24pm BST
59 mins Will Sturridge celebrate if he scores against his old club?
3.24pm BST
58 mins Gerrard tries to pick out Flanagan's run to the corner of the box but Salah heads it clear for a corner. Before they can take that Sturridge replaces Lucas. Nothing comes of the corner but a couple of moments and moves later, Allen forces a very decent save from Schwarzer.
4 - Daniel Sturridge has found the net in 4 of his 5 substitute league appearances for Liverpool, including both this season. Impact.
3.21pm BST
56 mins Liverpool pass the ball just outside the Chelsea box before playing it to Gerrard in the centre. From a fair distance out, he tries to redeem his earlier mistake but his shot is deflected into Schwarzer's rather unscuffed gloves.
3.19pm BST
54 mins "Afternoon Ian," cheers Simon McMahon. "I can't help but wonder how Matt Dony is feeling right now? If anyone lives near him, maybe pop round and check he's ok?" If he is like every other Liverpool fan, he is very shaking like a leaf.
3.18pm BST
51 mins Sterling does not look happy and he (possibly) has reason to. He skipped into the Chelsea box and his speed took him goalwards. However, Kalas came across to shouldered him off the ball. Had Sterling been a bit stronger he may have been able to stand up to the centre-back but since he wasn't this will be another entry for the I've-seen-them-given category.
3.14pm BST
49 mins Sterling skims his way past Azpilicueta on the Liverpool left but gets to the line and can go no further. He checks the back to Suárez, who in turn wins a corner. That fails to get past the first man and Chelsea clear any danger with ease.
3.13pm BST
47 mins Suárez is clipped from behind with Ivanovic on the half-way line. The replay shows the Liverpool man went down far too easily. Speaking of Suárez, he had a rather poor first-half and if Liverpool want something from this he is going to have to poke his head above the parapet.
3.10pm BST
45 mins We are back and we are back with no changes to tell you about.
AS IT STANDS IN THE #BPL: 1 - Liverpool Pld 36 Pts 80, 2 - Chelsea Pld 36 Pts 78, 3 - Man City Pld 34 Pts 74
2.56pm BST
Who saw that coming?
Top of the Premier League table, as it stands:
2.55pm BST
This is a huge mistake and it's a huge mistake from, all of people, Steven Gerrard. Chelsea had a late corner that Kalas, with a free header just yards out, should have scored from. Mignolet played the goalkick to Sakho who, pondering on the half-way line, played a short ball to his captain. Then came the mistake. Gerrard lost his concentration and lost his footing and the ball rolled into space. Ba capitalised on that and galloped goalwards. One on one with Mignolet, he did not miss.
2.53pm BST
Oh my.
2.51pm BST
45 mins Chelsea have a bout of sustained pressure on the Liverpool goal. It ends with Cole sending a regulation ball into the box. Mignolet, for a reason only he knows, opts to punch it clear, rather than catch it. Chelsea do nothing with the long throw that comes from his clearance. There are three more minutes to be played in this half, by the way.
2.48pm BST
43 mins Sterling is dribbling his way around the half-way line when Lampard introduces the Liverpool man to the ground. Lampard gets a yellow card and the home fans let him know what they think about his weight.
2.47pm BST
41 mins Cole gives the ball away like a kid would with candy when they are feeling ill having eaten way, way too much. Coutinho picks it up and picks out Sterling. He lays the ball off to Suárez, who from about 25 yards out, curls his shot well over the bar.
2.45pm BST
39 mins Now here's a talking point. Salah cut into the Liverpool box and aimed an effort goalwards. However, his effort is stopped by Flanagan, or more accurately, by the arm of Flanagan. Atkinson says 'you must be joking' when Chelsea appeal for a penalty but it is most def falls in the i've-seen-them-given category.
2.43pm BST
37 mins Another corner to Chelsea. The away players, sensing that Mignolet might be a touch weak on crosses, try to crowd him. Unfortunately for them, they get far too up close and far too personal and Atkinson calls a halt to to their attack.
2.41pm BST
35 mins Corner to Chelsea. Lampard takes. Gerrard intervenes. Mignolet collects. "Even though lfc are the better side remember this is Mourinho who gets a result out of nothing," warns, Manish Jadav.
2.39pm BST
33 mins Liverpool work the ball down the right-hand side. It comes to Coutinho about 30 yards out. He looks up and sees the run of Suárez and tries to slide-rule a pass into his team-mate. But his pass is far too heavy and Chelsea have possession once again.
2.37pm BST
31 mins Ivanovic has just stuck a meaty challenge in on Suárez. "Take that and party!" he doesn't shout at the Liverpool forward.
2.34pm BST
29 mins "With all the banter about whether Chelsea should try and win this game or save themselves for Atletico, it strikes me that they could also try and win both!" says Paul in Finland. "Just a thought."
2.33pm BST
28 mins The noise is still phenomenal at Anfield. There is no sense that these fans are getting worried or nervous just yet. Neither should they, Liverpool have been the better side so far.
2.31pm BST
26 mins Sterling hits a long, cross-field diagonal towards Suárez, at the corner of the box on the right. The striker stands his ground and Cole, ball-watching, runs right into him; Cole has looked jittery at times today. Gerrard stands over the resulting free-kick but he fails to make it past the first man, Lampard, who heads it clear. Liverpool do nothing with the second ball.
2.29pm BST
24 mins Indeed, but everyone rocks the sweats when they are feeling ill, no?
@ianmccourt mourihno looks like he's about to do some painting
2.27pm BST
22 mins From a standing start, Sterling puts on the speed and accelerates past Salah. The Chelsea player responds by giving him a whack around the ankles and gets a yellow card for his efforts.
2.26pm BST
20 mins A long all from Sterling misses the head of Kalas and finds the foot of Suárez, just outside the Chelsea box. He tries to shoot for goal but Kalas' body gets in the way. The Liverpool fans cry penalty but no one else does.
2.24pm BST
18 mins Chelsea get a throw deep in the Liverpool half. Azpilicueta takes but Gerrard heads it clear near the front post. Liverpool want to get it down and play and that is exactly what Suárez tries to do. However, that is exactly what Matic does not want and he intervenes almost instantly to stop the flow of the Liverpool attack.
2.22pm BST
15 mins This is all Liverpool now. Chelsea are struggling to get out of their own half or even string a few passes together to ease the pressure on themselves. " It seems perfectly sensible" says Kári Tulinius, "and logical for Mourinho to focus on the Champions League. They are two wins from winning Mourinho's third title with three different team, which would be a historic feat, but even if they win all their remaining Premier League games, they probably won't win the title. It makes perfect sense for Chelsea and Mourinho to put all their eggs in the Champions League basket."
2.19pm BST
13 mins Another corner to Liverpool. Suárez takes. It hits the back of a Chelsea player and Cole is forced to clear it off the line. The ball ding-dongs its way around the Chelsea area before Sakho takes charge and balloons an effort over the bar.
2.17pm BST
10 mins Kalas shows once again that pressure is for tyres. He comes up against Suárez and shoulders him off the ball. Speaking of Suárez, he has just turned and clipped a beautiful pass to the back post to Coutinho. In some space, he is caught between a shot and a pass back to Allen. In the end, Schwarzer's goal remains untroubled.
2.14pm BST
8 mins "Cost of Liverpool's starting XI: 126 million euros. Cost of Chelsea's subs: 111 million euros," accountants Marie Meyer. Meanwhile, Liverpool have their first corner of the game after Kalas put in a decent challenge on Sterling. It is played to Johnson on the edge of the box. He aims for goal but it is deflected away for another corner. Liverpool do nothing with it.
2.12pm BST
6 mins Flanagan gives the ball away wide on the right but atones for his mistake by forcing the ball away for a Chelsea throw. Azpilicueta tries to do a Rory Delap into the box but Liverpool clear it. The ball lands at the feet of Cole who slips but recovers in time to force Schwarzer into a good save with a shot from distance.
2.09pm BST
4 mins Schürrle gets a nasty looking knock on the ankle from Johnson (he may have also hurt his wrist). The Liverpool man escapes without a yellow card.
2.08pm BST
3 mins "Hi Ian," hollers Timothy Malcolm. "You say playing Kalas is ridiculous as Chelsea can still win the league? It's only an outside chance - Chelsea need to win this and rely on Liverpool losing one of their two last games, considering GD. Plus if Cahil got a minor injury, that would require lots of rejigging for the Atletico game - Luiz at CB, but then who at DM? Oscar? I'm happy with the selection as a Chelsea fan." Do other Chelsea fans feel this way?
2.07pm BST
2 mins Chelsea play some early keep ball in the Liverpool half but give the ball away to Sterling near his own box. Wide on the right, he makes his first run of the game and is only stopped when he arrives at the Chelsea end line.
2.05pm BST
1 min Peeeeeeeeep! Chelsea get us going playing left to right. José looks pale on the sideline, though that probably has more to do with a bug than the pressure of this game.
2.03pm BST
The players are on the pitch, the sun is on the pitch, the voices of the crowd are out and we are almost ready to go. Anyone out there who feels like emailing in with their thoughts on today's game, please don't be shy.
2.01pm BST
For those of us not there, here is a sample of the atmosphere at Anfield. It's almost as loud as a Mogwai gig. Almost.
1.51pm BST
A bit more pre-match reading for you. This time it is courtesy of Daniel Taylor who says Suárez,the favourite for PFA player of the year, belongs to the small, elite band of footballers who tempt him to ignore an old piece of advice never use the word 'genius'.
The last time Luis Suárez's name was read out at the player of the year dinner the great and the good of his sport, or at least a voluble number of them, delivered an entirely different verdict to the one he is entitled to expect when the Professional Footballers' Association rolls out the red carpet for its annual event in Park Lane on Sunday night.
This is the award that really matters for the elite players and, that night, nobody could have been left in any doubt about the straining of the relationship between Suárez and English football. The previous weekend, he had clamped his teeth into Branislav Ivanovic's arm before retreating with a make-believe limp that Walter Brennan would have been proud of. Suárez, and Liverpool, had spent the previous season and a half arguing it was not true he was a man of elastic principles, and that it was a fallacy to think of him as a serial abuser of his position. At the Grosvenor, the compere read out the Premier League's team of the year. The booing when it was Suárez's turn was not the sort to rattle wine glasses. Yet it was still loud enough to make its point.
1.48pm BST
From our men on and in the ground:
Tomas Kalas two weeks ago: "I am a player for training sessions. If they need a cone, they put me there" via @KHaring75 #CFC #LFC
Anfield PA just plays the trippy downbeat bit of Pink Floyd's Fearless and skips the kop crowd sample. Worried this might affect the team
1.45pm BST
Some pre-match reading for you from my colleague Amy Lawrence who reckons the Chelsea manager appears to be feeling the strain as he targets Champions League victory over Atlético Madrid without giving Liverpool an easy run to the Premier League title. Enjoy.
There is a certain resonance that José Mourino's campaign hinges on a match against Atlético Madrid. Critics can debate until they are blue in the face about what kind of team he plans to pick against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, but Mourinho's priorities are crystal clear. Logic is at work, and with the odds on a Champions League victory more favourable than a long-shot relaunch in the Premier League, Atlético dominate his plotting.
Round about this time last year the same opponents required hurdling to reach silverware. It was the Copa del Rey final, and an ill-tempered affairswirled into such a nightmare for Mourinho and Real Madrid that he ended up sent off and being teased by the Atleti fans. "Mourinho, stay!" they implored with sarcastic gusto.
1.35pm BST
Well he promised us he would play a weakened team but he has only partially carried out that threat. The main talking point will be the starting of Tomas Kalas ahead of Cahill. The 20-year-old defender has made only two first-team appearances this season, both of which came as a 89th-minute sub, and thus has the pleasure of making his first start against Suárez and co, the team with the best attack in the league, while Cahill, an experienced and excellent defender, warms the bench. Given that Chelsea still have a chance to win the league, that is a most inexplicable decision from Mourinho. That will be a worry for Chelsea fans, as will the lack of depth on the bench. OK so the aforementioned Cahill is there, as are Torres and Willian, but the rest lack experience of these sort of games and are not exactly the lot you want with spades in hand when you need digging out of a hole, are they? In total, the Chelsea boss makes six changes from the side that lost to Sunderland with Kalas, Cole, Lampard, Mikel, Ba and Schürrle all coming in. As for Liverpool, Sturridge's hamtring-ouch! means he too rides the bench, as Rodgers goes with the same eleven that started the 3-2 win at Norwich. Those teams in full then are as follows:
Liverpool: Mignolet, Johnson, Flanagan, Skrtel, Sakho, Gerrard, Allen, Lucas, Coutinho, Sterling, Suárez. Subs: Jones, Toure, Agger, Cissokho, Alberto, Aspas, Sturridge.
1.00pm BST
It's 1985 and Jay Z is 16 years old. He and his friend Hill have set up shop in Trenton, New Jersey, hustling on a dead-end street. There is no easy money on a dead-end street so the two decided to rock the apple cart. Says Jay: "There were a couple of areas close by where other hustlers were working: in front of the grocery store, in front of a club on the main strip, out in the park. So we competed on price because we were getting our supply at lower numbers." The local traders did not like that and Jay and Hill were warned that they were not welcome around those parts. One day Hill walked through the park and got into it with a boxer with a missing tooth. Jay lost it "it was like playground beef" and the duo decided to put an end to the intimidation. "We went to the park and confronted these cats at four in the afternoon, both sides armed and read to shoot it out." Those guns were drawn but no one was shot. Respect was won. "It was stupid and stressful, but we felt we didn't really have a choice. It was win or go home."
A similar situation awaits Liverpool this afternoon at Anfield. Like Jay and Hill, they have taken conventional wisdom and whispered a quick apology in its left ear before hitting it hard where it hurts. You cannot challenge for the league title without spending a sum similar to the GDP of the Federated States of Micronesia, they said; and yet here are Liverpool on top of the table, having spent less than most. Steven Gerrard has neither the discipline or the tactical nous to play as a defensive midfielder, they said; and yet here he is having one of the best seasons of his career, inspiring all around him. Brendan Rodgers is a managerial version of David Brent, all sound-clips and little substance, they said; and yet his tactical thinking and tinkering and his work on the training ground means he is on the verge of bringing Liverpool their first league trophy since 1990.
They are not quite there yet though. There is one last (major) beef to confront, there is one last (major) showdown in the park. And, like the game against Manchester City, it's win or go home. (Yeah, OK they could play for a draw but as my colleague Toby Moses points out, there is no point in Liverpool playing for a draw, that is not where their strengths lie.)
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