- Safiu Kehinde
A late goal from Brazilian wonderkid, Estevao William, has handed Liverpool their third straight defeat as Chelsea edged past the English Premier League champions in 2-1 victory.
The defending champions had on Saturday travelled to the Stamford Bridge for another epic showdown against Enzo Maresca-led Chelsea.
Liverpool’s hope of returning back to winning ways was however dented in the 14th minute as a Moise Caicedo’s screamer put Chelsea in the lead.
With the Kopites failing to get a leveller, the first half ended in 1-0 in favour of the blues.
Liverpool returned for the second-half in desperate search for goal as the Merseyside club’s, Arne Slot, introduced summer signing, Floran Wirtz, into the game.
Further tactical substitutions finally saw Liverpool broke the defensive lock of the World Champion as Cody Gakpo scored in the 64th minute to bring the game to 1-1 leveller.
Meanwhile, Enzo Maresca, made a tactical substitutions,. introducing Romeo Lavia to strengthen the midfield while Willam, Marc Guiu, and Jamie Gittens replaced Pedro Neto, Joao Pedro, and Alejandro Garnacho, respectively in the attack.
The subs wasted no time in putting clamping down Liverpool’s attacks as the Premier League champions were forced to defend their exposed backline.
While both Gittens and William were initially denied goal scoring chances by Liverpool’s goalkeeper, the latter eventually stole all three points for the blues with barely two minutes left before final whistle.
Spanish left back, Marc Cucurella, sent a through pass to towards goal after sprinting past Liverpool defenders.
William, looking for his first Premier League goal latched on the pass to send the home fans I to wild jubilation.
The game now sees Liverpool lost three consecutive games as they during the week defeated by Galatasaray in the UEFA Champions League days after a 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s red card spell continues as they picked another red card in four consecutive matches courtesy Enzo Maresca’s sending off.
The London club’s coach who had earlier been booked received a second yellow card after running into the pitch to celebrate William’s late winner.