Chelsea collected a vital three points against Liverpool on Sunday to enhance their chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
The Blues recorded a 3-1 win at home against Liverpool, who secured the Premier League title a week before.
It’s a result for Enzo Maresca’s side that boosts their top-five bid going into three final league matches against Newcastle United (Away), Manchester United (Home) and Nottingham Forest (Away).
Following the weekend’s game, Liverpool manager Arne Slot complimented Chelsea by claiming he’s surprised that his side are 19 points above them in the division table.
Without a doubt, Chelsea’s attacking play was a real standout from the victory over Liverpool. In particular, Cole Palmer was a constant threat during the entire game, which he topped off with a late penalty.
| Chelsea | Liverpool | |
| 2.91 | xG | 1.17 |
| 17 | Shots | 11 |
| 7 | Shots on target | 2 |
| 37 | Touches inside the box | 34 |
| 13 | Tackles won | 7 |
| 356 | Total passes | 645 |
The Blues defence deserves a special mention for their role in picking up the win, too.
Therefore, it was great to see Premier League legend Wayne Rooney single out a Chelsea defender for his contribution against Liverpool.
Wayne Rooney thinks Marc Cucurella was outstanding vs Liverpool
During his analysis of the Chelsea versus Liverpool showdown, Rooney broke down a brilliant performance from Marc Cucurella.
He was hugely impressed by the 26-year-old Blues left-back’s display. In particular, he loved his “aggressive” defending to combat the threat of Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah.
Rooney told Match of the Day 2 (4 May): “I was really impressed with Cucurella today. I really liked how aggressive he was against Mo Salah…
“He didn’t really give Salah any joy today to get anything from the game… Really aggressive; as a full-back, you have to do this. If you give Salah the time to get at you, he can cause you massive problems…
“When you go into Salah he can make you look silly, but he had no fear to go up against him. I was really impressed with him.”
| Minutes played | Accurate passes | Chances created | Tackles won | Interceptions | Duels won | Clearances | Match rating |
| 90 | 33/37 (89%) | 1 | 1/1 (100%) | 2 | 3 | 7 | 7.7 |
In Chelsea’s win over Liverpool, Cucurella showed how much he’s improved the defensive side of his game. He’s now someone who seems to thrive defensively in 1v1 situations, even backing himself to deal with Salah.
On top of that, the Spain international has six goals and four assists in 43 games across all competitions this campaign.
Blues head coach Enzo Maresca described Marc Cucurella as “intelligent” on the football pitch because he’s so good at picking up the right positions.
Marc Cucurella has emerged as one of Chelsea’s best players
Rightly so, Moises Caicedo swooped up the individual prize for Chelsea’s Men’s Player of the Season at the club’s awards night on Sunday evening.
However, Cucurella is one of the Blues players closely behind him when it comes to delivering top-class performances on a consistent basis this season.
Earlier this year, Frank Leboeuf apologised to Marc Cucurella by saying the Chelsea full-back has completely turn things around after a tough start to his career at Stamford Bridge.
In this third season with the club, he’s now grown into one of the team’s outstanding performers.
For the Blues, they now need to try and find a suitable understudy to him at left-back next year.
