The end of history

THERE is a song the Liverpool faithful like to sing, to the tune of ‘Lord Of The Dance’, which is reserved especially for those occasions when they come up against Chelsea.

The essential tone is set by the opening two words, one of which is ‘off’, before the song goes on to gleefully mock the west Londoners because “you ain’t got no history”. (Which would doubtless have come as news to Osgood, Cooke, ‘Chopper’ Harris and the rest, not to mention – if ancient history is more your thing – Ted Drake).

Still, the reality is that Chelsea have a little less history to reflect on this morning, after Liverpool ended their 86-game unbeaten Premier League run at the Bridge, a record which stretched all the way back to February 2004. And thanks to Xabi Alonso’s deflected goal, Luiz Felipe Scolari has also tasted defeat for the first time as boss of the Blues.