Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool
by Amar Azam
at Stamford Bridge

JOSE MOURINHO’S Premier League champions were given a guard of honour by bitter rivals Liverpool as Chelsea took to the pitch for the first match since winning the championship.

However, both sides had to settle for a point each in a game that never looked likely to match past encounters between these clubs.

John Terry put his side ahead early in the match before Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard equalised late in the first half.

Gerrard too was honoured on the day, receiving a standing ovation from both sets of supporters, led by Mourinho, when he was substituted late on.

However, with this draw, Liverpool’s slender hopes of beating rivals Manchester United to the all-important fourth spot all but disappeared.

Chelsea, with just two defeats against their name all season, came into this match with Liverpool boasting a fine recent record against Brendan Rodgers’s men.

It took just under five minutes for them to take the lead when Terry rose beyond his marker to convert a corner-kick from Cesc Fabregas. The powerful header flew past Liverpool’s Simon Mignolet.

Despite a positive response by Liverpool’s players, they created little in the way of goal-scoring opportunities in the remainder of the first half.

However, on 44 minutes, Liverpool were back in the game when Gerrard put away a header from close range after slack marking by Chelsea from a corner. It was a surprise given how formidable Chelsea’s back line, with 17 clean sheets, had been this season.

Phillipe Coutinho, one of Liverpool’s better performers in the first half, nearly put his side in front just after the interval.

His shot from 10 yards glanced the side netting of Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtios’s goal.

Chelsea too had their chances, the best of which came through Fabregas, on 76 minutes. After squirming through Liverpool’s back line, his goal-bound shot was blocked by Martin Skrtel.

Gerrard was brought off soon after to warm applause from all in Stamford Bridge. The former England captain, who Mourinho admitted he had tried to sign as a player three times, will leave English football at the end of the season to move to the United States.

Both sides were unable to break the deadlock, and were left to share the points.