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Liverpool and Chelsea played out one of the more entertaining matches of the Premier League season on Sunday, as both sides settled for 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge in a match where there was no winner other than Manchester City. The league favorites got to watch the match a day after their dramatic win at Arsenal and witnessed neither team team cut into their lead, which at this team may be insurmountable. City have a 10-point lead over Chelsea and an 11-point lead over the Reds.
Both Chelsea and Liverpool were missing key pieces for this showdown, with Thomas Tuchel not even including Romelu Lukaku in the squad following his controversial interview with Sky Italia where he expressed his unhappiness at the club. The Reds managed to get a point without coach Jurgen Klopp, star goalkeeper Alisson and striker Roberto Firmino, with each missing out due to testing positive for COVID-19.
Liverpool led 2-0 in the first half through Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, but Chelsea managed to score twice late in the first half via Mateo Kovacic and Christian Pulisic, setting up a second half that somehow had no goals thanks to superb goalkeeper play.
Next up, Chelsea go to Manchester City on Jan. 15, while Liverpool host Brentford on Jan. 16.
Here are three takeaways from the match:
Liverpool let golden chance pass
Out of the two, Liverpool seemed like the most likely team to give City a run for their money the rest of the way, but they'll be bitterly disappointed with their performance here. While the start was fantastic, and while they didn't stand a chance defending the first goal conceded, an out-of-this-world strike from Kovacic, they did not do enough in the end. Their high line fostered the counter that led to the equalizer, and they also had more than enough chances late to win the game. Edouard Mendy came up huge in goal for the Blues, but the sharpness from the first half did not carry over to the second, preventing what would have been a monumental victory.
Credit to Pulisic for keeping focus
Mad props go to Pulisic in this one because of the determination and focus he showed. Just moments into the game, he should have given Chelsea the 1-0 lead when he was this close to scoring:
As a young player, you worry about his confidence, but he didn't let that impact him and continued to get into dangerous spots. And continuing to do so saw him rewarded with the massive equalizing goal late in the first half. Take a look:
The goal was Pulisic's first in the league since November, and his xG of 0.74 was his second highest on the season. This was also the first time he had multiple shots on goal in a league game since August.
They need a near-perfect two months to stay in race
You know Pep Guardiola loved this result. With a double-digit lead over both entering next week, January and February will be very telling. If February finishes with City still up double-digit points, the title race may be over.
There are just two more matches for each in January in league play with FA Cup action coming up next weekend. Chelsea have a huge game at Manchester City on Jan. 15 to get back into the race. The bad thing is, City have a schedule over the next month that includes games against Southampton, Brentford and Norwich, which should be nine points.
Both Chelsea and Liverpool are going to need to win the majority of their next 6-8 games, roughly, to really push last year's champs. Sunday's result did nothing to help that cause.
