Chelsea came from 2-0 down to earn a point from a pulsating 2-2 draw with Liverpool on Sunday that does fiddling for either side ‘s hopes of catching Manchester City at the lead of the Premier League. City ‘s conduct now stands at 10 points from Chelsea with Liverpool a point further spinal column, albeit with a game in hand. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was absent along with three cardinal players due to plus coronavirus cases, but the Reds distillery raced into a two-goal moderate thanks to parting gifts from Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah before they head off to the Africa Cup of Nations. Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel made the boldface birdcall to drop record sign Romelu Lukaku after the Belgium attacker went public with his displeasure at being used meagerly by the german.

The Blues hush had the firepower to fight back before half-time thanks to Mateo Kovacic ‘s stunning strike and christian Pulisic. But Chelsea have now won just one of their last five league games, while Liverpool have taken equitable two points from their end three matches to allow City to streak towards a one-fourth deed in five seasons. A thrilling 90 minutes that raged from end to end from the first whistle took fair six seconds to explode into liveliness when Mane was golden to escape with just a yellow menu for the consumption of an elbow on Cesar Azpilicueta. Liverpool were missing goalkeeper Alisson Becker, Joel Matip and Roberto Firmino due to Covid infections. however, Alisson ‘s understudy Caoimhin Kelleher proved his worth by saving an early one-on-one with Pulisic. Chelsea ‘s frustration at Mane ‘s suspension was entirely heightened when the Senegalese took advantage of Trevoh Chalobah ‘s error to round external teammate Edouard Mendy and smash home his first goal in 10 games. Liverpool will now have to cope without their two top goalscorers for up to calendar month with Salah and Mane headed to Cameroon on international duty. The come back of standing to English top-flight football for the first time in 26 years as separate of a test contributed to a fervent atmosphere with full crowd still permitted despite record levels of Covid-19 infections in England.

But Salah momentarily silenced most inside Stamford Bridge with a stunning here and now of quality to double Liverpool ‘s lead. The Egyptian killed Trent Alexander-Arnold ‘s pass, eased beyond Marcos Alonso and then slotted the ball in at Mendy ‘s about military post for his 23rd goal of the season. Chelsea then had their own disciplinary reprieve when Mason Mount was not punished by a VAR follow-up for kick out at Kostas Tsimikas. That proved pivotal as the european champions hit back with two goals in four minutes to go in level at the break. Kovacic ‘s goals are few and army for the liberation of rwanda between, but much spectacular and the Croatian ‘s volley in off the post was a finish of the temper rival. With Liverpool still reeling, Pulisic made amends for his earlier miss by lifting the ball over Kelleher. Mount closely completed the rejoinder in first base half arrest clock as his shot trickled wide. The tempo did not relent in the second half and alone the goalkeepers ensured there were no more goals.

Mendy was forced to full stretch to deny Diogo Jota, Salah and Mane. At the other end, Kelleher stood up well to parry Pulisic ‘s potent attempt. But a share of the spoils meant City were the veridical winners of the weekend after they beat fourth-placed Arsenal 2-1 on Saturday .