Chelsea beat Liverpool 1-0 in Sunday afternoon’s Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge, with Olivier Giroud repaying Antonio Conte‘s faith with a first-half header that Liverpool were unable to reply to.
The victory sees the Blues now just two points adrift of Tottenham Hotspur with two matches to play and their pursuit for a top-four spot has been re-energised.
Chelsea end their winless run at home to Liverpool
Ahead of Sunday’s game, Chelsea had an ignominious home record against Liverpool that they would have been desperate to amend – having lost their last two home meetings and drawing the third.
The Blues’ last win over the Reds at Stamford Bridge was back in 2015 – a 1-0 extra time victory in the League Cup.
It’s actually been five years since Chelsea have picked up all three points to Liverpool in London.
Giroud repays Conte’s faith
The former Arsenal striker has become Chelsea’s first-choice ahead of Alvaro Morata since scoring twice from the bench against Southampton on April 14 and he repaid Conte for starting him against Liverpool.
Giroud came into the meeting with five goals in 11 appearances against Liverpool and scored his sixth with a brilliantly-steered first-half header that proved to be the match-winner.
Top-four hopes alive
Chelsea looked down and out in the race for a top-four finish last month, as they found themselves eight points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham at the start of April.
However, Conte could well secure Champions League football for another campaign as Chelsea are now just two points behind Spurs with two games remaining.
The Blues have won their last four league games, while Tottenham have managed just one victory, and the race looks set to go down to the wire now.