Match Reports
Chelsea 4-0 Liverpool Liverpool's unbeaten League run came to an emphatic end at Stamford Bridge against a Chelsea team who have now gone 13 home games unbeaten against the Reds in all competitions. Liverpool got off to the worst possible start again in this fixture, when they went down after only 2 minutes. A fierce Graeme Le Saux shot was well saved by Dudek, but the ball bounced onto the face of the post and came back to Le Saux who finished into an empty net. The Reds had a couple of half chances in the five minutes following the goal, with the ball twice finishing on the roof of the Chelsea net. But it was Chelsea who came closest to scoring again in the match, when a bad ball across field by Carragher was colected by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. The Dutch striker then unleashed a ferocious strike from 30 yards out and Dudek did well to get a strong hand to the ball and direct it over the bar. Before long though, Chelsea did get a second goal. Hasselbaink took the ball from just outside the area, and sailed past Carragher before lifting it up into the roof of the net after Dudek had gone to ground early. Frank Lampard was not far off with a volley from just outside the area after half an hour, and the same player was given space to shoot after 40 minutes, but Dudek claimed the ball comfortably at the second time of asking. Liverpool began the second half much brighter than they ended the first, but were still passing the ball poorly and giving away possession far too easily. After 5 minutes of the half though, a lifeline appeared to have been handed to Liverpool. Riise stormed into the area and went down under a challenge from Gallas. While there was no doubt that contact was made, Riise was clearly looking for the penalty and made the most of the fall. A penalty was immediately awarded but McAllister's kick was saved by Cudicini. Just after the hour mark in the game, Riise had another chance after a mistake in the Chelsea defence had allowed Heskey to win the ball. Riise a decent shot first time, but it was to close to Cudicini to trouble the keeper. Then a couple of minutes later, Murphy managed to make his way into the area and after losing the ball, McAllister his an early shot but again, Cudicini made a good save, and within 5 minutes, the Italian 'keeper had made yet another stop on his line, this time blocking a shot from Riise after he had cut inside the Chelsea defence to creata space for a shot. But with 20 minutes to go, Chelsea finished the game off. As Hasselbaink broke forward, Sam Dalla Bona made a run behind a static Liverpool defence and he cross fell to Lampard, whose shot looked to be blocked by Carragher who was stood a yard in front of Dudek. But the ball came off Carragher's heel and rolled between the keeper's legs across the face of the goal before being pounced on by Dalla Bona. A couple of late shots by Gudjohnsen which were saved by Dudek and hit wide respectively, was the last Chelsea had to offer in the next quarter of an hour, and a long range effort by Murphy, which was a few inches over, was the closest Liverpool came to reducing the deficit. Things somehow got worse though for Liverpool as Gudjohnsen blasted a fourth past Jerzy Dudek who was recovering from keeping out Gudjohnsen's first effort. With Leeds and Arsenal failing to win this weekend, the defeat is not as costly as it could have been, but both Man United and Chelsea have closed the gap on Liverpool, who are now only 3 points behind.
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