Liverpool maintained their advantage at the top of the Premier League table with a 4-1 thrashing of Chelsea at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp’s side produced a dominant performance to record an emphatic win against the West Londoners, who despite seeing two penalty decisions controversially turned down, rarely threatened the home side.
Diogo Jota opened the scoring after bundling through the Chelsea defence to prod home, before the impressive Conor Bradley raced forward to score the second with his first Liverpool goal.
Having also assisted the opener, Bradley turned provider again for the third goal after crossing for Dominik Szoboszlai to head home. Chelsea pulled one back in a short-lived fightback through substitute Christopher Nkunku, but Liverpool restored their three-goal cushion as Darwin Nunez crossed for Luis Diaz to steer home.
It was a frustrating night for the often chaotic Nunez, who missed a penalty at 2-0 and hit the woodwork four times – a Premier League record in a single game.
“I don’t think you can have an outstanding team performance when the individuals don’t work together. The start was brilliant, we were really going for them,” Klopp said to BBC Match of the Day.
“They tried to find [Cole] Palmer and we had struggles when the pressing was not right. We were outstanding, it was a top game. We could have scored and should have scored more goals. You cannot score five, six goals against Chelsea if you are not outstanding.”
Klopp reserved special praise for Bradley, who continued his exciting emergence with two assists and a maiden Liverpool goal.
“What a wonderful kid he is. Outstanding finish, the whole game, the contribution, the involvement. It’s a job to play against [Raheem] Sterling, that’s not easy. I’m really happy for him. He’s a very serious young man and that was pretty special I have to say. We saw in pre-season. He is really doing well.
“A few weeks ago when I was in holiday a few Bolton fans asked if they could have Bradley back but it’s too late! For us it’s important because we could not have put this string of results together without these boys. Without [Jarell] Quansah, Conor and Bobby [Clark], they really helped us through this period. Joe Gomez has created his own position if you want. It’s really good, really happy for the boys.”
