Chelsea reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup as they condemned Liverpool to their second consecutive loss at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening in a frenetic tie.
The hosts took the lead early on as Adrian allowed Willian’s shot from range to dribble through his grasp and into the back of the net in the 13th minute. Ross Barkley then doubled the advantage mid-way through the second-half with a spectacular solo strike to book Chelsea’s place in the next round in what is another big scalp for Frank Lampard and his young team.
Willian gives Chelsea early lead
The game started at a real frantic pace, with both sides clearly indicating that they were taking the competition seriously with strong starting line-ups and a few early chances. Liverpool particularly threatened through Sadio Mane, whilst Olivier Giroud and Antonio Rudiger both failed to get on the end of Cesar Azpilicueta’s flick-on at the near post.
Lampard’s men then soon began to dominate and despite Adrian producing a stunning save to deny the Blues, he was then culpable for Chelsea’s opener. Fabinho sloppily gave the ball away in midfield, with fellow Brazilian Willian then setting his sights. The shot had power but it seemed to be lacking any real direction as it flew straight at Adrian but he somehow palmed it into the bottom corner in what was a gift of an opening goal.
Kepa produces triple stop
His compatriot, Kepa, who ironically has not found life easy in recent weeks at Stamford Bridge showed him how it was done though as he produced a stunning triple stop. First, he denied Mane from close range, before then also parrying Divock Origi’s shot on the spin. The ball then fell kindly for Curtis Jones but his shot was too stopped by the Chelsea man.
Despite those chances, the hosts remained the better side throughout the tie. Substitute Mason Mount went extremely close to doubling the advantage as he smashed a brilliant free-kick off the top of Adrian’s crossbar.
Barkley all-but sinks Liverpool
An inspired moment of play from Barkley final did see Lampard’s troops finally get their second. Picking up the ball on the halfway line, the former Everton midfielder drove at the Liverpool defence until he got to the edge of the area. With a tremendous finish, he fired the ball into the bottom corner of the Liverpool net.
Pedro then could have then got in on the act as he too profited from more slack defending from the Reds. He raced practically half of the field unchallenged but his shot lacked any real power or precision as Adrian saved easily. Giroud too had the opportunity to seal the win but his powerful shot was somehow tipped onto the crossbar by Adrian.
The Blues only needed two in the end though as they ousted the reigning European champions and future Premier League victors.
Final Thoughts
Despite being so far clear at the top of the Premier League table, this will be another slightly worrying result for Liverpool following their horror show at Watford. After a lightning start to the match for both sides, Liverpool really struggled to get any attacking momentum going throughout the match. Chelsea were by far and away the better side. They were defensively organised and booked their progression in the FA Cup, whilst Liverpool once again fail to reach the quarter-finals of the competition under manager Jurgen Klopp.
Match Report
Chelsea: Kepa (7); Azpilicueta (7), Rudiger (7), Zouma (6), Alonso (7); Kovacic (6) (Mount (7), 42′), Gilmour (8), Barkley (8); Willian (7) (Jorginho (7), 51′), Pedro (7), Giroud (7) (James (N/A), 90′).
Liverpool: Adrian (6); Williams (6), van Dijk (6), Gomez (5), Robertson (5); Fabinho (5), Lallana (6) (Salah (N/A), 80′), Jones (6) (Milner (5), 70′); Minamino (5), Origi (5) (Firmino (5), 70′), Mane (5).
Goals: Willian (13′), Barkley (64′)
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Yellow Cards: Fabinho (61′), Milner (76′), Mane (90+4′)
Red Cards: N/A
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