Chelsea boosted their hopes of Champions League qualification as Olivier Giroud’s first half header earned a 1-0 win over Liverpool.
Tottenham’s loss at West Brom on Saturday and Giroud’s fourth goal in five games, earning a win over Champions League finalists Liverpool, took Antonio Conte’s Blues two points behind their London rivals with two games to go.
The Reds have work to do to secure their place in Europe’s elite competition as an intense contest in stifling heat proved too much at the end of a week which saw Jurgen Klopp’s men advance to the Champions League final.
Here, we examine three key talking points from Stamford Bridge.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT MO
One buzzed around the pitch with vivacity and zest, slaloming in between the lines with a low centre of gravity allowing him to remain perfectly poised despite tugged shirts and bouncing bodies.
The other, looked lethargic, waited for the openings instead of creating them himself and overall looked well short of ideas.
Which of these accounts depicts a potential Ballon d’Or candidate?
Eden Hazard has endured a relatively quiet season by his standards but the Belgium attacker was superb at the Bridge making three key passes, achieving Chelsea’s highest pass accuracy (86.8 per cent) while also producing a game-high seven dribbles.
It was the 27-year-old who has longed been tipped to break the Ronaldo-Messi duopoly. But that narrative has now shifted to his former team-mate Mohamed Salah
But in the battle of the pretenders, the Egyptian was dreadful.
Granted, Salah can be afforded a poor performance here and there considering the exceptionally high standards he has set this season.
Indeed, it would be remiss to slam a player who has contributed 40 goals in the Premier League (31 goals and nine assists). Yet worryingly, his ability to bend games through sheer will and skill appears to be diminishing at this most crucial juncture.
His 11 touches in the first half were the least of any Liverpool player and he only added 23 more in the second half, the joint lowest of anyone from the starting XIs.
Put simply, Salah has looked drained in his last three games, drawing a blank in all three for his longest dry streak since October.
A blatant dive, for which he was rightly booked, in the first half is indicative of the drop off. His first touch was heavy then he opted for the ugly, lethargic route of looking for a non-existent touch.
The fact Salah has stopped dropping deeper to square up his man is a sign of his exhaustion as he instead hangs desperately onto the last man when he should be involved in the early attacking phases.
Klopp will be desperate to rest his key man. But he’s just one goal away from breaking the 38-game goalscoring record and with Champions League football for next season far from secure, the Egyptian may have to continue.
3-5-1-1 WORKS A TREAT
Chelsea have now won five from their last five in all competitions and the momentum at a key stage of the season is with the deposed Premier League champions.
And Conte has inspired the late fight, while experimenting with his side’s shape.
The Italian has moved away from the 3-4-3 formation which brought so much success last season in an attempt to clog the midfield and dominate possession.
The Blues largely attacked through their flying full-backs at the start of the campaign. But Conte has now looked to compact the middle areas by dropping Pedro and Willian and instead opting for a variation of a 3-5-2 or the 3-5-1-1 used on Sunday.
And the switch is paying dividends. Hazard has been unshackled, relishing his free role in behind Giroud who has become the quintessential No9 Conte had hoped summer buy Alvaro Morata would be.
The Frenchman’s fourth goal in his last five games is justification of the impact he’s made since signing from Arsenal in January. But more than the goals, he’s been crucial in creating chasms.
Giroud anchors himself up top whereas Morata has a tendency to drift across the line and ultimately is a far weaker target man.
The presence of Giroud led to isolated lopsided battles between Virgil van Dijk and Hazard, while he bullied Dejan Lovren in the box.
Defensively, they bolted to five at the back while the three in midfield stayed compact to close the spaces.
The visitors struggled to find a way through even with their piercing pace of play and Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United will be fearing the worst for the FA Cup final if Conte is able to shutdown the league’s most dynamic attack.
FROM OUTSIDERS TO CONTENDERS
Chelsea are right back in the hunt for a Champions League spot which just last month seemed well beyond them.
However, their unbeaten run since the defeat to Tottenham at the beginning of April combined with their north-London rival’s drop off and Liverpool’s own decline – they have failed to pick up three points in their last three league games – has dragged them into the mix
Spurs appear most at danger with the gap between them and Chelsea now just two points. Both have two games left to play, Spurs close out the season hosting Newcastle and Leicester, while the Blues welcome Huddersfield then travel to the Magpies.
Liverpool, meanwhile, thanks to their superior goal difference, just need to beat Brighton next Sunday to secure their spot. But there’s no doubt the chase is going down to the wire.
