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90+4min: Solanke heads wide after a barrage of crosses. Courtois gets booked for time-wasting. And it’s all over! CHELSEA WIN!
90+2min: Pedro the final change, on for Fàbregas.
90min: Four minutes added on.
89min: Solanke gets a header in, but is well over. Moreno comes on for Milner for Liverpool; Zappacosta comes on for Moses for Chelsea.
87min: Cahill gives the ball away, but Liverpool waste the opportunity and Courtois collects. Both teams looking a bit tired.
85min: Rüdiger wins the ball from Solanke, earning a yellow for the returning Chelsea youth for his retaliatory foul. Rüdi down with cramp. Willian finally on for Hazard.
84min: Azpilicueta gets away with a miskick three yards in front of his goal. Courtois collects. Willian has been trying to get on for five minutes.
81min: Moses gets booked for throwing the ball away. Conte continuing to scream his head off on the touchline trying to get Chelsea to push out a bit.
79min: Alonso almost scores a worldie on a first-time hit from a Moses’s cross. Alonso collected a booking earlier as well (time-wasting?).
75min: Solanke returns to Stamford Bridge as Liverpool’s second substitute. A smattering of boos for the youngster. Robertson makes way, Milner drops to left back.
73min: Quick counter from Hazard and Giroud, with the former just unable to reach the latter’s return ball in the area.
65min: Taylor ignores another foul on Hazard but Moses intercepts and runs the whole length of the pitch but eventually is crowded out. Conte urging his side to step up a bit and stop dropping so deep.
63min: Hazard beats two, finds Bakayoko, but his shot is weak and straight at the goalkeeper after a good turn.
59min: Liverpool make first change, Clyne off for Henderson. Alexander-Arnold drops to right back for the Reds.
56min: Hazard beats three, then almost beats Karius. Robertson clears off the line. Rüdiger scores from the resulting corner, but is well offside.
54min: Solid play from Bakayoko, Giroud, and Alonso leads to a corner. Cleared by Van Dijk. Hazard gets a new shirt.
49min: Great passing from Chelsea leads to a shot for Kanté, but he skies his effort. Meanwhile, Hazard’s shirt has become a deep v-neck with a big tear down the front after Liverpool try everything to stop him.
47min: Chance for Chelsea but neither Alonso nor Giroud can reach Moses’s cross.
46min: Back underway. No changes for either side.
#CHELIV HT
— Dan Dormer (@dandormer) May 6, 2018
Our meaty French forehead scores again
Bakayoko makes positive contributions on the pitch
Rüdiger up to the challenge of marking Salah
♂️ Mo dives, Mo gets cautioned
Courtois comes up with crucial saves
Dreams of a top four finish still alive
HALF-TIME: Two minutes added on, with Chelsea defending solidly and wasting a decent counter. 1-0 after 45 minutes. So far, so good!
39min: Salah booked for a dive. Cahill does well to avoid. Clyne is then booked for the same challenge Milner didn’t get booked for 20 minutes earlier.
RT @GaryLineker: oh fuck off, P̶e̶d̶r̶o̶ Salah pic.twitter.com/kwaKRH0QP7
— amadí (@amadoit__) May 6, 2018
36min: Moses having more joy on the right, but Fàbregas’s cross/shot goes just wide.
33min: CHELSEA TAKE THE LEAD! Bakayoko switches gloriously to Moses, he beats his man and dinks in a cross, Giroud is there to head it home. Another headed goal for Chelsea! 1-0, good guys!
31min: At the other end, Alonso leads the charge, Hazard passes up a shot, Bakayoko heads Moses’s cross wide. Chelsea’s best move of the game, not too close in the end.
30min: Courtois saves twice more from Mané after Kanté loses a rare 50-50.
24min: Courtois parries Mané’s long range blast. Thibaut then palms the corner away with Van Dijk ready to nod into the empty net. Chelsea hanging on a bit here...
22min: Good defending from Chelsea as Firmino slides in Salah. Rüdiger keeping tabs.
18min: Kanté catches and tackles Mané from behind, cleanly, saving a 1-v-1 counter vs. Cahill. What a tackle!
Yet another important tackle from N'Golo Kanté, this time stopping Sadio Mané in full stride on the counter. What a player. #CFC pic.twitter.com/dY6cq30I41
— Chelsea GIFs (@ChelseaGIFs) May 6, 2018
16min: Couple half-chances for Chelsea as Giroud and Alonso take aim. Liverpool break the other way, but Chelsea recover well.
10min: James Milner dives in with two feet, leaves Hazard in a heap. Not even a yellow. LOL, Anthony Taylor.
8min: All Liverpool possession so far...
3min: Firmino with the game’s first shot. Courtois saves.
KICK-OFF: A minute’s applause for the legendary Roy Bentley, who passed away recently, and we’re underway. Let’s go!
PRE-MATCH NEWS: Álvaro Morata missing from the matchday squad because of an injury he picked up on Saturday. No further details available at this time, whether he re-aggravated his back or if it’s something different.
Apparently #Morata picked up an injury in training yesterday #cfc
— Simon Johnson (@sjstandardsport) May 6, 2018
Chelsea need the three points today to make the top four race truly interesting for the last week of the season. Win today, and we’re only three points behind Liverpool (who have 1 game left) and two behind Spurs (who have 2), with 2 to play.
COME ON, CHELSEA!
We’re trying something slightly different with gamethreads: instead of just an open thread, it will be updated regularly (while you comment away below) with highlights, stats, and anything else worthwhile for a live blog sort of thing. Let’s see how it goes.
Chelsea starting lineup (3-5-1-1):
Courtois | Rüdiger, Cahill (c), Azpilicueta | Alonso, Fabregas, Bakayoko, Kanté, Moses | Hazard | Giroud
Substitutes from: Caballero, Christensen, Zappacosta, Emerson, Barkley, Pedro, Willian
Conte makes one change from last weekend’s win over Swansea, with Alonso returning from his suspension on the left flank. Emerson drops to the bench, which is also the same as last weekend, sans Morata, who apparently picked up an injury in Saturday’s training.
Liverpool starting lineup (4-3-3):
Karius | Robertson, Van Dijk, Lovren, Clyne | Milner, Wijnaldum, Alexander-Arnold | Mane, Firmino, Salah
Substitutes from: Mignolet, Henderson, Klavan, Moreno, Ings, Solanke, Woodburn
Date / Time: Sunday, May 6th, 2018, 16:30 BST; 11:30am EDT; 9:00pm IST
Venue: Stamford Bridge, London, England
Referee: Anthony Taylor
On TV: Sky Sports (UK); NBCSN, Telemundo (USA); Star Sports Select HD2 (India); elsewhere
Streaming online: SKY GO (UK); NBC Sports Live, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (USA); Hotstar (India)
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