Liverpool held at Everton, Chelsea boost for Champions League

Liverpool will wait another match day to know when they can wrap up the Premier League title after they were held to a 0-0 draw at Goodison Park by a very organised Everton, while Chelsea boosted their Champions League hopes by coming from a goal down to beat Aston Villa 2-1, at Villa Park.

Liverpool were without Mohamed Salah who started on the bench and Andrew Robertson not in the match-day squad. Despite five changes the Egyptian remained on the bench. Minamino and Keita started but both were substituted while the forced replacement of James Milner and Joel Matip due to injuries and Roberto Firmino completed the new mandatory five changes.

Liverpol dominated possession but created only two good chances while Everton created the better chances, late in the game, coming close to wining with opportunities from Richarlison, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and Tom Davies.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin had this to say about his missed chance, Everton’s performance and the result: “It was just instinct.

“We had a few chances but it wasn’t our day today.

“Sometimes they go in and sometimes they don’t.”

“I thought we defended very well.

“It wasn’t as sharp as you’d expect. some players are a little bit rusty and my timing was a little bit off.

“We’ll take the point but i thought there was a big chance there for us today.

“A draw was a fair result.”

Everton coach, Carlo Ancelotti: “We had the opportunities. We did our best. We were only a little bit unlucky. The draw is fair. Liverpool played a tough game. The performance was good – for this reason we can be satisfied.”

The Reds will have to wait to see what happens with Manchester City’s home game with Burnley and their own game at home with Crystal Palace – and perhaps also the Chelsea v Manchester City midweek game – to determine if they win the title this week.

Jurgen Klopp didn’t seem too bothered about the result: “The defensive stuff was there. Offensively, we need moments. I know we can play better football. The performance level was OK. We have to respect the opponent, and Everton were here to make our life difficult. They have quality and they could have won the game.”

Chelsea dominated Villa in the second game of the day for most of the first half but Kortney Hause put Villa ahead with a close tap in to give them a 1-0 lead going into the break.

Chelsea responded well in the second half with two goals executed by Christian Pulisic – brought on as a substitute in the 60th minute – and Olivier Giroud in the 62nd minute to earn all three points and take them five points ahead of the chasing pack of Manchester United and Wolves.