Chelsea leave it late against Liverpool as its Estevao who clinches it for the blues.
Chelsea Chaos.
Chelsea being at home were quitely optimistic about getting something from this game. They started the game off perfectly with Maresca's tactics clearly working. With how the blues had set up it was certain they were trying to target the Liverpool fullbacks in Kerkez and Bradley. Both who have had a slow start to the season. It was Malo Gusto playing alongside Caicedo in that midfield pivot, Gusto found himself in space and then laid the ball off to Caicedo who rattled the back off the net 20 yards out.
It's safe to say he enjoyed that one, That saga back in 2023 saw him choose Chelsea blue over Liverpool red and he wanted those fans in the away end to know who his loyalty lies with. Thats 3 for him this season and 2 of those being absolute belters from long range.
Liverpool Response.
At the start of the second half, Arne Slot turned to his bench, bringing on £120 million man Florian Wirtz in search of an instant response. His sub was almost immediately impactful as his pass for Salah almost led to a Liverpool equalizer 20 seconds into the second half. Liverpool grew into the half well as their constant pressure finally bore fruit, Szoboszlai's floated ball from the right found its way to Isak who hooked it into the path of Gakpo who smashed the ball into the net from close range to bring the reds back into it.
Things went from bad to worse as they saw their only fit and available center backs get substitued off due to potential injury scares. All this happened at the worst possible time for Chelsea. Losing your only fit Center backs and conceding in the span of about 5 minutes. Liverpool now knew the game was firmly in their hand and were pushing to lead the game for the first time on the night. Multiple chances fell to the feet of Salah, but the Egyptian King didn’t have his shooting boots on, sending his efforts sailing into the Liverpool end.
The roll of the dice.
Maresca saw his team struggling to create a bit and decided to make changes up front, Likes of Estevao, Gittens and Guiu getting minutes off the bench,Instantly the front 3 were linking really well. Estevao and Gitten's directness was causing the fullbacks some real problems and Guiu's press wouldn't allow debutant Mamardashvili to settle on the ball.
Suddenly, it was Chelsea who had their tails up, forcing the keeper into key saves and piling on the corners. You could sense there was a winner in this. With the clock running down, Lavia released Cucurella down the left; the Spaniard played a delicate ball into Enzo, who waited patiently before threading it back into Cucurella’s path. He then cut it across for Estevão to finish.
Stamford Bridge Erupts.
Estevao becomes a Chelsea hero as he netted what was certainly the winner for the blues. Maresca ran back his playing days as he sprinted all the way to the corner flag but only this time it was to celebrate a massive 3 points with his players.
Chelsea carried on their red card run as this time it was the manager seeing a second yellow for his celebrations at the end of the match. Highly doubt he has a problem with it at this moment though. This does mean that he would have to watch Chelsea's visit to the city ground from the stands.
Caballero's thoughts.
Chelsea assistant Willy Caballero, speaking after Maresca's red card: "In the last weeks, we have a lot of emotions. In the last games we played well but finished the game with 10 players but couldn't win the game. Today, we had to play with all full-backs in the back four. The…
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) October 4, 2025
Overall, it was a massive three points for Chelsea. After dealing with injuries to several key players and going down to ten men in each of their last three games, this felt like the perfect response. Maresca’s tactics clicked brilliantly, and it was a huge confidence boost for young star Estevão, who came off the bench to net the winner in the 96th minute. Next up, it’s Nottingham Forest away after the break — and Maresca will be eager for his side to carry this momentum and extend their run of back-to-back wins.
