The Winners and Losers From Liverpool’s Stalemate With Chelsea

Liverpool versus Chelsea. Two of the biggest teams the Premier League has to offer and two teams desperate to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

You’d have thought that would be reason enough for their Saturday afternoon clash at Anfield to be a barnstormer, but unfortunately neither side read the script as they played out a low quality draw.

Ryan Gravenberch’s sixth-minute stunner momentarily set pulses racing, though sadly he and his Liverpool teammates were unable to conjure up any more magic in the absence of some of their key players. Chelsea were missing personnel too—the exciting Estêvão among those out—but they did secure a point thanks to Enzo Fernández’s drifting free kick that evaded everybody to beat a statuesque Giorgi Mamardashvili.

The result is not a disaster for the Reds, but they could be down to fifth and just three points clear of sixth if Aston Villa and Bournemouth are able to pick up positive results. For Chelsea, not losing is a positive—they had travelled to Merseyside off the back of six successive Premier League defeats—but they could be out of the running for the Champions League if Bournemouth beat Fulham.

Below are Sports Illustrated’s winners and losers from the game.

Winners

Rio Ngumoha

With Mohamed Salah, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitiké unavailable, it was left to Rio Ngumoha to provide the creative spark for Liverpool. Supporters have been crying out to see more of the dazzling teenage star, and on this evidence it’s easy to understand why.

The clear focal point of Liverpool’s attacks, Ngumoha had 19 touches in the first half alone and completed three of the four dribbles he attempted. He unnerved Malo Gusto with every twist and turn and the Frenchman was clearly afraid of being burned on the outside by Ngumoha’s pace. Yet it was his awareness to come inside, and his perfect weight of pass, that unlocked Chelsea’s defense just six minutes into the contest.

Dominik Szoboszlai’s thunderous free-kick slammed into Chelsea’s wall, and the ball was subsequently worked out wide to Ngumoha. The obvious thing would have been to scoot to the byline, hanging up a cross to the back post or fizzing the ball in hard for those waiting in the penalty area. Instead, Ngumoha saw Ryan Gravenberch in space on the edge of the box, and his delivery into the Dutchman’s feet allowed him to let the ball run across his body and open up a shooting opportunity. Gravenberch did the rest, curling a beauty into the top corner, but Ngumoha’s part in the goal was critical.

His substitution in the 66th minute was greeted by a chorus of boos—not because fans were unhappy with him, rather they could not fathom why Arne Slot had chosen to take him off.

Enzo Fernández

For some observers, Enzo Fernández’s stock dropped when he openly flirted with the idea of joining Real Madrid. But the Argentine’s subsequent absence from the team—an internal two-game suspension really told him who’s in charge, eh—and impact since returning means he’s arguably in the strongest position possible.

Chelsea’s lack of quality natural width has undoubtedly helped showcase Fernández’s talents, yet there’s no denying that he’s becoming increasingly more influential the more time he bombs forward as an attacking midfielder. Dovetailing here with Cole Palmer, who continually drifted inside to help outnumber Liverpool in central areas, he exploited the chasm of space afforded to him by Ibrahima Konaté and Curtis Jones’s inability to communicate, breaking in-behind on numerous occasions.

His finishing let him down, with one opportunity presented to him in the golden category, but he was switched on enough to capitalize on Liverpool’s weakness and helped swing the momentum in Chelsea’s favor. Indeed, for the final 20 minutes of the first half, the home side were all over the place at the back and in midfield—and Fernández’s movement played a big part in that.

Chelsea know Fernández wants to play in the Champions League next season, and he did his chances of attracting a big-name suitor no harm here.

Marc Cucurella

Over the past 18 months, Marc Cucurella has quietly gone about becoming one of the world’s best, and most consistent, left backs. He rarely puts in a bad performance, always gives his all and is a master of the dark arts—traits that often help underperforming teams like Chelsea get out of ruts and poor patches of form.

The Spaniard had a different job to do for stand-in manager Calum McFarlane at Anfield, shunted forward to play on the left wing in the absence of Alejandro Garnacho, Pedro Neto, Jamie Gittens and more. Was it a problem for the 27-year-old? Not in the slightest.

From the opening whistle, Cucurella was bristling with energy and keen to get onto the shoulder of Curtis Jones—another to be playing out of position as Liverpool’s right back. He outwitted Jones on a number of occasions, combined nicely with Fernández and João Pedro, and created a number of openings for Chelsea.

He so nearly got them ahead minutes into the second half, darting past the flat-footed Frimpong—moved to right back because of Jones’s struggles—before squaring the ball for Palmer to slam home after a bit of ping-pong. He was only denied by VAR determining his shoulder to be in an offside position as Moisés Caicedo played him through.

Losers

Jeremie Frimpong

Jeremie Frimpong’s first season at Liverpool has been heavily disrupted by injuries, that’s the first thing to say. He’s not found any kind of rhythm, has played in multiple positions and has been expected to immediately slot in and fill the shoes of either Trent Alexander-Arnold if playing at right back or Mohamed Salah if playing on the right wing. That kind of pressure will weigh anybody down.

But it’s not untrue to say that Frimpong is a million miles away from the player he showed himself to be at Bayer Leverkusen. Off the pace and lacking clarity of thought, he’s not doing anywhere near enough for a Liverpool side who have forgotten how to take control of games and don’t know how to hurt opposition.

There were no incisive runs at Jorrel Hato to speak of—another player whose first season in England has been dogged by inconsistency—and there was very little desire to get on the ball and make something happen. Frimpong is hardly a veteran at 25 but must surely recognize that the bulk of chance creation can’t fall on young Ngumoha on the opposite flank when Wirtz is absent.

Frimpong attempted just two dribbles across the 90 minutes, failing to complete either, and just one cross into the area found a Liverpool teammate. Couple those disappointing numbers with the fact he made just one defensive contribution and one tackle (per FotMob) and you understand why fans are crying out for new arrivals.

Cody Gakpo

Frimpong struggled to make an impact but you may not have even known that Cody Gakpo was playing—that’s how poor he was up front for Liverpool.

Backed time and time again this season by Slot, the Dutchman played 77 minutes of the game but only touched the ball 12 times, attempted just eight passes and did not take a single shot on Filip Jörgensen’s goal. Levi Colwill, starting his first Premier League game of the season after recovering from a torn ACL, could not have wished for an easier afternoon.

Alexander Isak was introduced on 66 minutes, but incredibly replaced Ngumoha instead of Gakpo. 11 minutes later, Slot saw the light and introduced Chiesa in place of the former PSV Eindhoven forward. What Liverpool are crying out for is a striker to get involved in the play, linking up with the midfield before turning to assert some pressure on the opposition center backs—something Ekitiké has been doing to great effect all season. What Gakpo was trying to achieve is anybody’s guess, but it’s clear his confidence playing through the middle is at an all-time low.

Gakpo will be worried about his form and so will Liverpool. Carry on at this rate and it’s hard to justify him staying at Anfield, let alone being a regular fixture in the first team.

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