Just like lame horses suffering from chronic joint inflammation, the two teams arrived at the Anfield showdown staggering uncertainly and often utterly unable to perform.
Chelsea had lost 3 of their previous 4 matches, while Liverpool has been all season like grandma’s knitting—one plain, one purl—or like the curdled milk left forgotten on the table.
Accordingly, the level of play pretty much delivered what was expected: there were some exciting spells, but overall, this wasn’t the most memorable Premier League top clash of the season.
Gravenberch’s shot
The match’s perhaps most beautiful moment was quickly squandered by the teams like a puberty boy’s love at the first encounter, in the 6th minute the Dutch midfielder curled it wide, which Jörgensen—partly due to being unsighted, partly because he reacted a bit late—couldn’t save anyway.
In the 35th minute Fernandez arrived for the equalizer with a free kick, where the debate and delaying in the broadcast went on about whose goal it was, but there was no getting into it, so the ball whipped into the box eventually hit the net and the Argentine was credited as the scorer.
Stats
Not much of substance can be said about the statistics: possession was neck-and-neck, xG-wise the teams were nowhere, averaging their xGs at a generous 0.5—but only if we feed it to them like prune jam to a constipated man, to ease the pain.
Liverpool had two shots hit the bar anyway, both teams scored offside goals too, and as I said there were pulsating spells, but you could feel throughout the match that two teams were playing who hadn’t envisioned their season turning out like this.
Lots has happened with both teams this season, which obviously I don’t want to write about now because Rate the Game is fundamentally about the more personal aspects of experiencing the match, and here I’d bring in You’ll Never Walk Alone, thanks to which no matter how Liverpool performs, it’s guaranteed goosebumps in the best sense—and any football lover, if they can, should definitely experience it live at least once.
Thanks to this, Pool’s matches really start off well even before kickoff.
More lenient with Liverpool
They could have approached this season after last year’s performance (especially after spending over 400 million pounds on transfers) aiming to defend the title in the league and of course win the Champions League.
However, if we just put two things on the table:
One, Diogo Jota’s tragic death, and two, Salah’s decline, the tension around him, benchings, and then the announcement of his departure—if we place just these two things side by side, one tragic event, the loss of a friend, and the downfall of one of the club’s biggest icons amid disagreements—I think that’s more than enough to ruin a season.
Of course, you can’t blame everything on these because it’s much more multifaceted and complex, but because of this, I’m more lenient with the Reds.
Experience Rating:
51
A lovely finish from Ryan 🎯 pic.twitter.com/9Gn6cYm8l6
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) May 9, 2026
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