Liverpool 2-0 Chelsea
There's been an air of resurgence surrounding Liverpool football club in the past week. Last weekend's away win at Bolton wasn't proof that Liverpool were back to their best brand of football, but it was the start that led to Thursday's Europa League heroics where club captain Steven Gerrard scored an impressive second half hat-trick.
As Liverpool naturally progressed toward Sunday's home encounter with the Champions, the soft scent of that revitalized air surrounding the club was as fresh and potent as ever. A tumultuous start to the season Liverpool definitely endured, but Sunday's relatively emphatic victory over Chelsea is nothing short of blatant proof that one of England's finest clubs have now rid themselves of their early season fears and anxieties.
Fernando Torres looks to be back to his most fierce form, yet shouldn't football fans have seen this kind of performance coming? After all, Torres, as brilliant as he can be, seems to drift in and out of form quite like a hobo drifting from town to town without a home.
Regardless of the fact that I just compared Torres to a hobo, the Spanish striker was brilliant for Liverpool on the day producing two stunning strikes that the world of football has come to know him for. Torres equaled great, but Liverpool as a unit(e), as a team and as an ideal were equally as impressive over the course of the full 90 as Torres was in his few short moments of inspiration.
The energetic return of Dirk Kuyt, the boyish enthusiasm of young Martin Kelly at right back and the command and control from Steven Gerrard in midfield played like a soothing scouse orchestra in front of a supportive and brilliant Anfield crowd. Roy Hodgson, welcome to Liverpool.
Chelsea were the opposite of Liverpool's dominance. Having conceded only three league goals thus far this Premier League season, the reigning champs gave up two in one match. Were those two goals possible proof that Chelsea's strength in depth, or lack thereof, is not only a chink in their armor, but a variable that could prove their title defense futile?
Time will tell, while Chelsea's once efficient attack stuttered due to either a bad tank of petrol, the prolonged absence of Frank Lampard, or the beginning of the end to their widely criticized easy-ish start. For now, at least, Liverpool with heads lifted high enter back into the top half of the table with ambitious purpose.
Scott Sinclair
