Liverpool 4-1 Chelsea: Player ratings

Liverpool are five points clear at the top of the Premier League after an emphatic 4-1 win over rivals Chelsea at Anfield on Wednesday night.

In an action-packed game, Diogo Jota opened the scoring in the 23rd minute after he bulldozed his way through the heart of the Blues' defence, before Conor Bradley opened his Reds account with an excellent strike 15 minutes later.

Jurgen Klopp's side could have gone in at half time 3-0 up, but for Darwin Nunez striking the post with his penalty in first-half stoppage time.

However, the third goal did finally come 20 minutes after the restart when Dominik Szoboszlai headed home a Bradley cross.

Moments later, though, Christopher Nkunku reduced the deficit with a tidy finish in a tight space, but Mauricio Pochettino's side's comeback didn't last long: Luiz Diaz restored Liverpool's three-goal advantage by applying a tidy finish to Nunez's cross with ten minutes left to play.

Here are your player ratings...

Alisson (GK): 6

Rapid off his line in the opening minute to snuff out the threat from Raheem Sterling. Could do nothing about the goal, with the strike coming from such close range. Quiet game overall.

Conor Bradley (RB): 10

Picked up where he left off, with yet another high-energy performance, capped off with an excellent goal, letting rip on a Gerrard-esque finish. Was up and down the right flank during his 67 minutes on the pitch, providing a more-than-useful out-ball. Cleverly picked out Jota, who was making an outside-to-in run, for the opener and rounded off an excellent showing with a brilliantly weighted cross, following a powerful run, for Szoboszlai to head home the third. A goal and two assists: what more could you ask for?

Ibrahima Konate (CB): 8

Was imperious on the pitch today. Ibou has turned into a proper leader and has seemingly added a new dimension to his game: he's now able to get himself (and others) out of tricky situations with good feet in tight areas.

Virgil van Dijk (CB): 5

An unusually poor performance from the captain. He made a slow start to the game and was much too deep as Sterling went through on goal. Had a hairy moment too when Conor Gallagher went down in the box after receiving contact from the Dutchman’s knee. Looked like he was walking through treacle when Nkunku skipped around him before making it 3-1. Moments later, he got too close to the Frenchman and made needless contact in the penalty area again. Was speculation about his future on his mind today?

Joe Gomez (LB): 6

A low-key but steady showing from one of the side’s most reliable performers in recent months, though some of his crossing left plenty to be desired in the first half.

Alexis Mac Allister (DM): 8

An excellent all-round performance, winning his duals and keeping the ball ticking in the middle of the park with quick first-time passes and switches of play. The only criticism would be that he perhaps didn’t put in a challenge on Nkunku in the build-up to Chelsea’s goal.

Dominik Szoboszlai (CM): 7

Made a more than useful return to Premier League action. Definitely was in the mood to shoot, even if they didn’t come off. Luckily, thanks to Bradley’s cross, he couldn’t really miss with his header.

Curtis Jones (CM): 7

Showed excellent close control to get a shot off inside a congested area to draw a good low save from Petrovic. Gave the Reds useful width on the left just when Diaz was being nullified somewhat by Axel Disasi in the first half.

Diogo Jota (RW): 9

Pure persistence, followed by a poacher’s finish. You just knew it was going to hit the back of the net, didn’t you? Jota was a nuisance all day long and played a key role in Bradley’s goal, too, effectively taking Ben Chilwell out of the game. Then, just before half time, he won his side a penalty, getting to the ball first ahead of Benoit Badiashile.

Darwin Nunez (ST): 9

Where to start with this one?

The Uruguayan set all sorts of records today, with the most notable being his unprecedented feat of hitting the woodwork four times in a single Premier League game.

The first came from a fierce strike which grazed both Petrovic’s fingers and then the crossbar, followed by a left-footed volley that was pushed onto the post by the keeper. However, the clearest chance came in first-half stoppage time when he sent the keeper the wrong way with his penalty which came back out off the post.

But there was more to come, and with 15 minutes left to go, his header rattled the goalframe once again.

But Nunez just doesn’t give up. He showed great tenacity to shrug off Thiago Silva before putting in an excellent cross for Diaz to make it 4-1.

Overall, a good game and a case of fine, fine margins. Imagine if he’d scored all four…

Luis Diaz (LW): 7

Had a busy first half, albeit with little to show for it, with Disasi keeping him relatively under control. However, almost immediately after he was shifted to the right late in the second half, the Colombian got himself on the scoresheet, perfectly anticipating Nunez’s cross from the left.

Substitutes

Trent Alexander-Arnold (Bradley, 68’): 7

Was very close to doing something very special with his passing and kept the pacey Mykhailo Mudryk under control.

Harvey Elliott (Szoboszlai, 68’): 6

Let Carney Chukwuemeka go a bit too easily for Chelsea’s goal but showed good endeavour overall.

Cody Gakpo (Jota, 68’): 7

Was eager to get on the ball and was quite trigger happy. However, it didn’t quite come off for him.

Andrew Robertson (Gomez, 68’): 7

Was nice to see him motoring down the left flank again and he popped up with a few good crosses.

Bobby Clark (Jones, 83’): N/A

Had very little time to make a noteworthy impact on the game.