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In the English Premier League on Saturday, there were eight matches of the 24th round, with the most interesting being the showdown between the leaders and the pursuers as Liverpool confidently defeated Chelsea, dealing a blow to their rivals' hopes of fighting for the championship title. Blackburn and Charlton unexpectedly won away, Aston Villa defeated the outsider Watford, newcomers Reading won their match, Middlesbrough surprisingly crushed Bolton, and the determined matches between Fulham and Tottenham, as well as Newcastle and West Ham, ended in draws.
The central match of the 24th round took place in Liverpool, where Liverpool hosted visitors from London - the defending champions Chelsea footballers. As always, this clash of giants was extraordinary - both on the field and behind the scenes.
The hosts started the game much more actively and already in the 4th minute they took the lead - Peter Crouch headed the ball to Dirk Kuyt, who, deceiving Paulo Ferreira, easily beat Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Čech. By the way, this was Čech's first match after a serious skull injury suffered in the match against Reading on October 14.
However, the missed goal did not wake the champions from their slumber - and the initiative continued to belong to Liverpool's eleven, which actively tore apart Chelsea's defense - just three minutes later, it was only thanks to Čech's abilities that the guests managed to avoid conceding a goal after a strong shot from John Arne Riise. Nevertheless, the hosts' efforts were not in vain - in the 19th minute, Jermaine Pennant beat Čech with a beautiful shot from outside the penalty area.
With the second missed goal, the problems for the champions did not end - in the 20th minute, Chelsea forward Arjen Robben had to leave the field due to injury, and he was replaced by Shaun Wright-Phillips. However, the visitors somehow managed to stall Liverpool's attacking machine and the game leveled out. However, the hosts still attacked more dangerously.
The situation on the field did not change after the break - Jose Mourinho's pupils failed to take control, and they often found themselves scratching their heads due to sloppy defensive mistakes. Fortunately for Chelsea, none of them were converted into goals by Liverpool.
Even the appearance of Andriy Shevchenko on the field in the 73rd minute did not help the visitors - the Ukrainian did not stand out from his teammates.
After the final whistle, the scoreboard continued to show favorable numbers for the hosts - 2:0. The Liverpool players gave a confident victory to their coach Rafa Benitez, for whom this was his 100th match in the English championship.
After these matches, the Liverpool team reduced the gap from the 2nd-placed Chelsea players to 5 points - the teams have 46 and 51 points respectively.
