Dreadful finishing cost Chelsea big time as they played out a woeful goalless draw against Liverpool in their first game since Graham Potter’s sacking.
Interim boss Bruno Saltor took charge of the Blues on Tuesday night and their performance was at least an improvement compared to some of their other games at Stamford Bridge this season.
Yet, they were plagued by the same major issue that had affected Potter – a complete lack of clinicalness in front of goal, as the likes of Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic squandered multiple chances to break the deadlock.
Jurgen Klopp made six changes to his Liverpool side that had lost 4-1 at Manchester City last Saturday, including dropping key players like Mohamed Salah to the bench.
But if the Reds boss was expecting his team to bounce back in style, his faith was greatly misplaced, with the visitors sloppy in possession, unable to create chances and looking far from a team that wants to finish in the top four this season.
Chelsea came close to scoring twice within the first five minutes with Joao Felix pouncing on a mistake from Kostas Tsimikas, only for Alisson to deny him and Havertz to badly mess up the follow up.
Then, Kovacic found himself rounding the Liverpool keeper following a nice move but his shot was well-blocked by Ibrahima Konate near the goal-line.
Havertz continued to squander good chances, first by hitting a close range shot straight at Alisson after Ben Chilwell had done well to find him with a low cross, and later when he screwed wide after being brilliantly played in by N’Golo Kante.
The home side did find the back of the net eventually through Reece James’ superb volley from the edge of the box following a corner, but it was ruled out as Enzo Fernandez was marginally offside in the build-up.
It wasn’t until the last seconds of the first-half that Liverpool had a meaningful chance, when Fabinho’s powerful effort was deflected just wide of the post by Wesley Fofana.
The second-half picked up where the first left off with Chelsea continuing to dominate but lacking any kind of composure in front of goal, with Kovacic blazing over when he just had Allison to beat.
Minutes later, Havertz looked to have finally ended the voodoo when yet another of his efforts was saved but rebounded off the German and into the back of net – but as the ball had ricocheted off his arm VAR promptly ruled it out.
Initially, it looked that the disallowed goal would open the game up at last, with Darwin Nunez testing Kepa Arrizabalaga soon after, but instead proceedings began to peter out, even after the Reds introduced Salah just after the hour mark.
The result means that Liverpool remain eighth in the table, seven points off the top four though they have a game in hand over fourth-placed Tottenham.
Chelsea stay 11th with European qualification of any kind looking more and more reliant on winning the Champions League, with the first-leg of their quarter-final tie with Real Madrid next week.
MORE : ‘We need new ideas’ – Jurgen Klopp explains dropping key stars for Liverpool vs Chelsea
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