Liverpool are handing Arsenal the title! Winners & losers as Arne Slot’s self-destructive champions gift late win to plucky Chelsea as Estevao announces himself to the world
The main reason Chelsea were able to claw their way back into the game was because of Liverpool’s negligence, both on and off the pitch. Their lavish summer transfer spend surpassing the £400m-mark now looks greedy for the sake of greedy as the team have lost their sense of shape and sensibility.
Slot has had the task of trying to assemble a new-look team ready to compete straight away, which of course takes time, but they have seldom looked as settled and streetwise as the outfit from his debut season at Anfield. He arrived on Merseyside in the summer of 2024 hailed as a smart manager who tinkered and adapted to the needs of different situations and squad at his disposal, and he needs to figure out how to maximise this one as soon as possible. For much of the second half, Liverpool’s back four consisted of Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson. You didn’t get the sense that this was a team serious about keeping Chelsea out.
Not only have his Liverpool team lost for a third successive game for the first time on his watch, but twice now they have been beaten at their own game. To begin the season, the Reds came up with a series of late goals to snatch victories, though have now fallen to defeat for a second week running owing to a stoppage-time slip-up.
“We were the dominant team, but in the last ten to fifteen minutes it was end to end, both teams could have scored. Both teams arrived a lot of times at the 18-yard line. These are the margins that don’t fall for us at the moment. We have to work harder to not rely on these margins. Chelsea, Palace away, these are also teams that ask you a lot of questions,” Slot assessed post-match. Again, this is not a team in control of its own fortune with how loose and free they’ve been playing.
