Palmer breaks goal duck as Chelsea inflict biggest defeat of Arne Slot reign
Chelsea's Cole Palmer (left) and Liverpool's Curtis Jones (right) battle for the ball. Picture: Adam Davy/PA Wire
Chelsea gave Liverpool the guard of honour reserved for champions only to immediately rescind the privilege with a victory that strengthened their hold on a Champions League place.
It also included a first Cole Palmer goal in 19 games, a coolly despatched left-foot penalty into the bottom corner in the game’s dying seconds In a match that clearly mattered more to Enzo Maresca’s side than their celebrating visitors, an inadvertent Jarell Quansah own goal added to a third-minute Enzo Fernandez strike in Chelsea’s first victory over Liverpool in 11 attempts.
A late Virgil van Dijk header stirred up some latent nerves before Palmer’s penalty released a collective joy among the home faithful.
The sub-plot of the England striker and his impotency in front of goal has become a recurring theme among Chelsea watchers.
The drought stretched to 18 games and 110 days at kick-off. In the same period, Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella has scored four.
Palmer has continued to look eager, but with no end product, eagerness alone is less compelling.
His cruel recent fortune continued when his late shot after racing in from an oblique angle struck the inside of the post and rebounded back into the arms of Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker.
His luck finally turn in the dying seconds the hapless Quansah brought down a surging Moises Caicedo in the area, giving Palmer the opportunity to end the most miserable period of his Chelsea career.
Chelsea moved level on points with fourth-placed Newcastle whom they visit at high noon next Sunday and are looking increasingly likely to return to European football’s top table irrespective of whether they win the Europa Conference League or not.
A frequent question asked at Stamford Bridge this season relates to which Chelsea team will turn up, such has been their nagging inconsistency.
On this occasion, It could justifiably be asked of Arne Slot’s Liverpool given their newly won status as champions and the celebrations that have followed it.
The immediate answer was not a positive one. After an initial foray into the Chelsea area, the visitors conceded with less than three minutes played and their guard of honour still fresh in the memory.
Romeo Lavia and Palmer combined to slip a pass in front of Pedro Neto whose smartly delivered cross was cushioned with his left foot by Enzo Fernandez and then stroked into the net with his right.
Liverpool’s riposte came from Cody Gakpo who sped away down the left and tried to curl his shot beyond Robert Sanchez only to misjudge the bend of his shot and allow the Chelsea keeper to pluck the ball out of the air with a leaping dive.
At this stage, the action was shifting quickly from end to the other.
Save for an offside flag, Sanchez’s Liverpool counterpart Alisson would have been free to book his holidays, such was the crudeness of his upending of Nicolas Jackson as the Chelsea forward burst through.
A red card would surely have followed and a three-game suspension ruling Alisson out of Liverpool’s remaining fixtures. Instead, Alisson’s lunge counted for nothing save a quick rebuke from referee Simon Hooper.
In front of him, Neto had the beating of Kostas Tsimikas and the Portugal winger ruffled the outside of the Liverpool net with a firm shot.
If the visitors didn’t look unduly concerned about an impending third Premier League defeat of the season, it was because history will regard it as little more than a statistical footnote to a campaign of triumph.
There were looks aplenty when Liverpool conceded a farcical second goal 11 minutes into the second half, but none carried the despair that would have accompanied them had the title still needed to be won.
Palmer drove to the by-line and crossed for Noni Madueke, who was beaten to the ball by the outstretched leg of Wataru Endo, but as van Dijk attempted to clear the danger, his hack cannoned back off teammate Quansah and into his own net.
Liverpool did fashion two clear scoring opportunities, but both wasted. First, substitute Darwin Nunez headed away from goal instead of towards it while Mohamed Salah’s bounced wide of the far post.
Van Dijk’s header from an Alexis Mac Allister corner, briefly threatened their victory itself, before Palmer’s moment of redemption finally arrived.
Sanchez 6; Chalobah 8, Colwill 7, Cucurella 7; Caicedo 7, Lavia 6 (Gusto 78, 6), Fernandez 7 (James 88, 6); Palmer 7; Neto 7, Jackson 6 (Sancho 72, 6), Madueke 7.
Jorgensen, Tosin, Badiashile, Dewsbury-Hall, George, Acheampong.
Alisson 5; Alexander-Arnold 6 (Bradley 57, 6), Quansah 5, van Dijk 7, Tsimikas 5 (Chiesa 82, 6); Endo 7(Mac Allister 69, 6), Jones 5; Salah 5, Elliott 7 (Szoboszlai 69, 6), Gakpo 6; Jota 5 (Nunez 58, 5).
Kelleher, Konate, Diaz, Robertson.
Simon Hooper
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