Chelsea won one place in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup in the squad. The match that took place at Stamford Bridge ended with 2 goals without reply.
Tonight’s match was marked by the impressive performance of Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. His performance was successful in holding back all the onslaught of Liverpool’s attackers so that the net would still not be broken.
Willian and Ross Barkley became the decisive winner of Chelsea’s 2 goals. Since his debut in the FA Cup in January 2014, Willian has been directly involved in 16 goals for Chelsea, 11 goals and 5 assists.
While Barkley scored his first goal against Liverpool in his 12th appearance, before today he played 11 matches against them without scoring a single goal.
Frank Lampard who was delighted to welcome this victory told the club’s official website, Chelseafc.com that he could not ask for more from his team in the FA Cup victory that night over Liverpool. The Lampard boss also gave special praise to Billy Gilmour and Pedro.
“It was an impressive performance. It is very difficult to be comprehensive against Liverpool because they remain in the game with their character, but I can’t ask for more except enthusiasm, work ethic and quality.”
Thus said Lampard as reported by the club’s official website. Lampard admitted that against Liverpool he had to face not only high-level quality abilities but also the spirit and work ethic.
Lampard is very aware of Liverpool, how his team must defend with excellent abilities. If not, then the Chelsea goal becomes an easy target for Liverpool attackers.
But that night, Chelsea managed to keep a clean sheet against them. Making a defensive effort with everything especially the brilliant performance of the Chelsea goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga who played well so that Chelsea deserved to win this match.
Lampard actually noted that in the first two matches against Liverpool before, maybe Chelsea played better football, and had more control of the ball.
But when facing Liverpool that night at the FA Cup, Chelsea had less control of the ball and more defense. Facts finally Chelsea still get two winning goals.
The key to that victory is Chelsea have extra enthusiasm in this tight match. Specifically highlighting Kepa goalkeeper who has been displaced as Chelsea’s main goalkeeper Willy Caballero. He played very brilliantly. Kepa deserves to re-occupy the main position in the Chelsea squad.
Several times the extraordinary rescue that Kepa made kept his goal safe. In that night’s game at least 3 times he performed brilliantly against Liverpool’s golden opportunity from Sadio Mane, Divock Origi and Curtis Jones.
The performance of Kepa Arrizabalaga is one of the keys to the success of Frank Lampard’s squad in winning this fight. That night when Klopp fielded Roberto Firmino, James Milner and then Mohamed Salah midway through the second half, Chelsea’s goal remained virgin.
The Chelsea Blues with their 40,000 fans who were present at Stamford Bridge that night, should be delighted to welcome this victory. They advanced to the FA Cup quarter final with 7 other clubs who are still competing.