Andre Villas-Boas. Photo / AP
Glen Johnson consigned former club Chelsea to a second straight home defeat in the Premier League with a late winner at Stamford Bridge yesterday as Liverpool snatched a 2-1 victory to reignite its chances of finishing in the top four.
Galloping on to Charlie Adam's raking pass in the 87th minute, the England right back cut inside international teammate Ashley Cole and burst into the area before curling home left-footed into the bottom corner.
Not only did Johnson's superb solo goal extend Liverpool's unbeaten run in the league to seven matches and lift the team above Arsenal into sixth place, it also dealt a major blow to Chelsea's hopes of reeling in unbeaten leader Manchester City.
City is 12 points clear of Chelsea after nearly a third of the season, which will pile the pressure on the London club's inexperienced manager Andre Villas-Boas, especially given the notorious impatience of Chelsea's billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.
"The situation in the league isn't good for us but it's not impossible to turn it around," said Villas-Boas, whose team has lost three of its past four matches.
Former Argentina midfielder Maxi Rodriguez had given Liverpool a deserved lead in the 33rd minute on his first league start of the season, before Daniel Sturridge equalised from close range 10 minutes after coming on as a halftime substitute.
If either side looked likely to nick a winner in the dying stages, it was Chelsea.
But up popped Johnson to decide the game against the team he played for between 2003-07.
Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal are all level on 22 points, as are Tottenham, who have two games in hand starting with a home match against Aston Villa today.
In the end, the much-anticipated prospect of Chelsea striker Fernando Torres playing against the club that sold him for a British record fee of £50 million ($81 million) in January never really materialised.
The Spain striker started on the bench and only came on in the 84th minute for the largely ineffective Didier Drogba, providing no late threat.
It was Torres' replacement at Anfield, Luis Suarez, who was the liveliest attacker on show.
The Uruguay international caused all sorts of problems for the Chelsea defence and was inevitably involved in the opening goal.
Villas-Boas refused to acknowledge his job was under pressure but did admit the gap to City is "worrying".
"The owner didn't pay £15 million to get me out of [a contract at] Porto to pay me another fortune to get out."
- AP
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