Match Report: Liverpool 4-1 Chelsea

Liverpool tightened their grip on the Premier League top spot with a pulsating 4-1 win over Chelsea at Anfield on Wednesday evening.

The win lets the Reds start February on the perfect note, retaining their five-point lead at the top of the table.

Conor Gallagher had a penalty shout immediately turned down by referee Paul Tierney in the opening minutes of the game but it was nothing more than a little bit of contact from Virgil van Dijk.

It was Liverpool that opened the scoring after Diogo Jota bundled his way between the Chelsea centre-backs before a tidy finish found the back of the net.

It was his fourth goal in four games not to mention the assist he got against Bournemouth.

Then, Conor Bradley truly arrived on the scene with a goal reminiscent of a young Trent Alexander-Arnold.

After being found in acres of space on the right wing, he burst beyond the Chelsea defenders before finding the far corner from a tight angle with a laser-accurate drive.

The 19-year-old has been a revelation for Jurgen Klopp since Trent got injured against Arsenal.

Diogo Jota was brought down in the box, winning a penalty but Darwin Nunez, who never seems to have much good luck, hit the post which makes it his first ever career penalty miss. Until the Chelsea game, he had scored 12 from 12.

Bradley was in the thick of things all game and if you were impressed with his goal, you would have been off your seat for the cross he produced to assist Dominik Szoboszlai for the third goal.

Faced up by Chelsea defender Benoit Badiashile, Bradley knocked the ball away from him and used his pace to create space before playing a perfect cross to create the channce.

Szobo's goal made it 3-0.

Chelsea got one back with a brilliant goal from Christopher Nkunku.

The Frenchman produced a wonderful piece of skill to wriggle away from Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister before his shot whipped underneath Ibrahima Konate's foot and beyond Alisson off the post and into the back of the net.

Nkunku then had a claim for a penalty rejected after van Dijk's foot hit his standing leg but it would have been a soft penalty to give.

It made the score 4-1 but Liverpool kept going as Jurgen Klopp has taught us to expect from this team.

And who embodies that approach more than anybody? Darwin Nunez.

It was the Uruguayan who created the fourth and final goal for the Reds with a lovely left-footed cross to Luis Diaz at the far post to make it 4-1 and party time at Anfield.

Liverpool are now on 51 points after playing 22 games and are once again five points clear of Manchester City. They do have a game in hand but it's nice to not be the team that's under pressure to match results every week.

That said, up next is a trip to face Arsenal in the Emirates. A huge test of Liverpool's title credentials.