Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea Report

Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea

[ Premier League 2017-18 Match ]

    65′ 1 – 0 Salah      
  85′ 1 – 1 William

Mohamed Salah returned to haunt former club Chelsea but Liverpool were denied a hugely significant victory as Willian conjured an equaliser out of nothing at Anfield.

Salah was tried, tested and discarded with indecent haste at Stamford Bridge but has been a revelation on Merseyside, topping the Premier League scoring charts with 10 goals in 13 games after stabbing home from close range in the 65th minute.

Yet Jurgen Klopp's side were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw when substitute Willian floated the ball over Simon Mignolet in what could have been either a show of outrageous skill or sensational fortune.

Victory would have catapulted Liverpool into the top four and left Salah basking in lashings of narrative given his baffling treatment at Chelsea -- but the 85th-minute leveller left them three points behind their opponents in fifth.

Both sides showed five changes from their midweek outings in the Champions League, leaving the likes of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Cesc Fabregas and Willian starting on the bench.

The alterations resulted in seven Englishmen taking the field, including Danny Drinkwater -- making his first league start for Chelsea.

Liverpool pressed high and hard as they won the initial scrap for territory, but the best their early forays yielded was a Salah curler which ended up in the stands.

With Chelsea's wing-backs retreating to form a back five at times, it required more than a little craft to unlock the door. Salah was the most obvious danger, a nimble-footed menace to Marcos Alonso and Gary Cahill on the right wing, but phase after phase broke down around the box.

Chelsea were slower out of the blocks but had a clearer objective: find Eden Hazard and watch him go.

The Belgian drew the first meaningful save of the match with a rasping strike at Mignolet's near post and then teased out a glorious chance for the visitors.