Liverpool against Chelsea

Gerrard's corner is well defended by his England team-mate Frank Lampard.

Cech saves with his feet from Riise after good work from Babel. Liverpool have a corner. And here comes Peter Crouch. Farewell John Arne Riise.

Chelsea are probing around the park in search of an opening which they are unable to find.

Cole of the Joe raises his hand pleadingly in search of a corner. Rob Stlyes laughs inwardly, mutters 'fools' to himself and walks away from the situation.

Joe Cole is entering the fray, Wright-Phillips will be leaving it.

Riise exhibits mock amazement at something I admittedly did not see.

Terry is now booked for moaning to the referee. In fact, half the Chelsea players hunted the referee down and cornered him like a pack of complaining dogs.

Drogba sarcastically applauds Rob Styles decision to award Liverpool a free-kick. Of course, he could have meant his appreciation. Unlikely though.

Alonso and Lampard had a little tete a tete there. There is bad blood between those two after Lampard broke the Spaniard's ankle a couple of years back.

Pennant has been taken off and replaced with Ryan Babel.

Pennant does well to stretch to reach Gerrard's cross field pass. His cut back to Riise is exquisite but the Norwegian's shot has power and pace but no accuracy.

Gerrard fashions himelf a shooting opportunity when he shimmies around Ashley Cole. Malouda appeared to clip his heels as he prepared to shoot and Gerrard is unable to trouble Cech with his effort.

Jamie Carragher has been booked for protesting too loudly about the penalty decision. Harsh.

GOAL: Lampard dispatches the ball with typical elan. Chelsea are back in the game - they are fortunate to have been given that chance. A poor refereeing decision from Rob Styles.

Penalty to Chelsea. Malouda clashes with Danny Agger and Liverpool are harshly punished. The Frenchman seemed to run in to Agger.

Pennant beats Cole and then crosses towards Alonso on the edge of the area. The midfielder's shot is poor and he is not having the best of game's today.

Cole is quite rightly booked for leaving out his leg and tripping Torres.

Riise belts the ball against the suspiciously close looking wall.

Cole gets himself in all sorts of bother and has to resort to blatant CHEATING by pulling SHIRTS and bringing players DOWN!! Riise or Gerrard will take the free-kick from twenty-two yards out.

Pennant gets back to make a good challenge on Malouda.

Kuyt snaps somewhat at the ball after some nice one touch football but the final shott is poor and again the ball goes well over the bar.

This time Cech collects the ball safely.

Terry outjumps Carragher but Essien then has to put the ball out for another corner.

Essien slices his clearance. Another corner.

Gerrard's deflected shot goes behind for a corner.

Pennant's early ball is met by John Terry and Riise reacts quickest to his knock down. He blasts his shot well over though and perhaps a bit more composure was called for.

Wright-Phillips fantastic cross in is met by the head of Pizarro whose first meaningful touch almost goes in to the Liverpool net. Instead it goes just wide, but Wright-Phillips is operating with a bit more freedom down the right in this half.

Lampard gets it in and Mikel's header goes just over after Drogba flicked it on. A decent chance but he had little time to think about what to do.

Carragher concedes a corner as Malouda tangled with the defender.

Salomon Kalou is off for Claudio Pizzaro.

HALF-TIME: Not much between either team and a piece of class from Torres (ably assisted by his captain) is all that separates the teams. Mourinho is likely to bring on a sub or two if things don't change quickly for his side in the second-half.

Gerrard sportingly returns the ball to Chelsea when play resumes - seventy yards up the pitch and that is it...

Torres is down on the floor and appears to be clutching his leg after playing the meat in a Drogba/Mikel sandwich. He is up now though and walking off the pitch for some more treatment.

When the free-kick comes in Reina is on hand to take the ball. He sees Pennant in space and feeds him. The winger's cross towards Torres is too far behind the striker though and the chance is lost.

Gerrard is now booked for going in late on Mikel.

Jamie Carragher hoofs the ball high out of play to loud cheers from the home support.

Liverpool nearly pay for his ill thought out words when the ball is whipped in and John Terry just fails to connect with it five yards from goal.

It's hotting up a bit now and Jermaine Pennant goes in the book for complaining too heartily to the referee.

Torres fouls Terry blatantly and the referee gives a free-kick.

Ashley Cole is justifiably furious that he has not won a corner. A guilty-looking Jamie Carragher is seen strolling away whistling.

Nice work from Ashley Cole down the left and his cross gives Drogba half a chance. Half? Well, two-fifths perhaps. Liverpool get it away.

Frank Lampard just touched the ball. He has been rather anonymous so far this afternoon.

Good covering tackle from Arbeloa who scampered back to put in a tackle on Drogba.

A terrible effort from Kuyt goes high in to the Anfield Road stand.

Kuyt is now booked however for persistent fouling.

Kuyt harries Ben Haim prevents the defender clearing the ball up the park. Kuyt is putting a good shift in up front for Liverpool.

Wright-Phillips skips around Arbeloa and delivers a fine cross for Drogba who is unable to direct his header on target. A decent chance for the Blues.

Drogba battles his way through the Liverpool defence and wons a Chelsea throw-in. The ball breaks to Kalou in the penalty area and, just as the goal seemed to be opening up for him, Steven Gerrard appears from nowhere to put in a fantastic challenge and clear the danger.

A header from twelve yards by Riise goes straight in to the hands of Cech.

A terrible corner and Liverpool deal with it easily. They get the ball back up the park and Kuyt immediately hassles the Chelsea back four. Once more however he puts in a foul and concedes the free-kick.

His effort strikes the part of the wall named Jermaine Pennant for a Chelsea corner.

Malouda goes down theatrically as Alonso puts in a tackle. Didier Drogba will have looked on approvingly at the dive and it is the big Chelsea man who will take the free-kick from twenty -five yards out.

Kuyt tracks back to put in a challenge on Essien but is judged to have been a bit too eager in his attempts. Chelsea get a free-kick.

Good tackle on Torres by Mikel but the Liverpool striker is making a real nuisance of himself now.

Torres goes down in the box this time under the challenge of Ben Haim but the referee quite rightly waves play on.

GOAL: Fernando Torres has opened his Liverpool acount in some style. A wonderful pass from Gerrard slices the Chelsea defence apart. Torres then beats Ben Haim comfortably but still has work to do as he has been pushed wide. The Spaniard then slides the ball past Petr Cech and the ball goes in off the post. A great goal.

Xavi Alonso loses possession and puts his team in danger. Fortunately for him the Liverpool centre-halves are on hand to block the path of the oncoming Malouda.

Good strong tackle on Wright-Phillips by Gerrard.

Riise fires a shot in from twenty yards out but Cech is well positioned and collects comfortably enough.

This time the referee saw something and he acts. What he saw was Michael Essien hacking down Alvaro Arbeloa. And what Rob Styles does is show the first yellow card of the game to the Chelsea man.

Dirk Kuyt appeared to have his legs taken away by Malouda but he doesn't complain and the referee didn't see it. Perhaps I imagined it.

Another rubbish shot from Gerrard. Closer though this time. A goal-kick is the outcome.

Reina collects a high ball in from the left from Mikel.

At the other end, Torres tries his luck at this shooting malarkey but his effort is also struck wide.

Drogba and Malouda link up well but neither of them seems to want to have the shot and Liverpool eventually crowd them out.

The ball is eventually cleared by Kalou with an acrobatic bicyle kick.

Michael Essien deflects Riise's cross behind for a corner. Up they come.

The Chelsea fans are singing about cutting grass as Gerrard unleashes perhaps the worst shot of his career. It goes out of play. For a throw-in.

A terrible touch from John Arne Riise on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area and his poor control allows Cech to come and claim the ball. Perhaps the pass came too early in the game for Riise but he will not get a better chance in the game. Probably.

Drogba makes the most of some slack defending and has a go from long range. It's well wide and Jamie Carragher (for it was he who dithered) will be pleased with that.

The game starts with Chelsea attacking the Kop. And it is the visitors who get us underway.

Pizarro is actually starting on the bench this afternoon so the goal-scoring responsibilities rest with Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou up front for the Blues.

The strains of You'll Never Walk alone echo around Anfield as the players line up in the tunnel. Jose Reina has just scrached his head.

John Terry returns to the Chelsea defence and his England colleague Steven Gerrard will start once more in his favoured position in the middle of the park.

Hopefully new signings Fernando Torres and Claudio Pizarro can bring some spark to what should be a tight match.

Round three hundred and twenty six and a half of what has become an intense rivalry in the last couple of years takes place at Anfield this afternoon, and both sides will be hoping to capatalise on main title rivals Manchester United's slip-up earlier today.

Someone once told me that if you give an infinite number of monkeys an infinite number of typewriters one of them will eventually write the Bible. He may have been wrong (lying even) but law of averages dictates that Liverpool and Chelsea are bound to produce a decent game of football between them at some point.

Penalty to Chelsea. Malouda clashes with Danny Agger and Liverpool are harshly punished. The Frenchman seemed to run in to Agger.

Pennant beats Cole and then crosses towards Alonso on the edge of the area. The midfielder's shot is poor and he is not having the best of game's today.

Cole is quite rightly booked for leaving out his leg and tripping Torres.

Riise belts the ball against the suspiciously close looking wall.

Cole gets himself in all sorts of bother and has to resort to blatant CHEATING by pulling SHIRTS and bringing players DOWN!! Riise or Gerrard will take the free-kick from twenty-two yards out.

Pennant gets back to make a good challenge on Malouda.

Kuyt snaps somewhat at the ball after some nice one touch football but the final shott is poor and again the ball goes well over the bar.

This time Cech collects the ball safely.

Terry outjumps Carragher but Essien then has to put the ball out for another corner.

Essien slices his clearance. Another corner.

Gerrard's deflected shot goes behind for a corner.

Pennant's early ball is met by John Terry and Riise reacts quickest to his knock down. He blasts his shot well over though and perhaps a bit more composure was called for.

Wright-Phillips fantastic cross in is met by the head of Pizarro whose first meaningful touch almost goes in to the Liverpool net. Instead it goes just wide, but Wright-Phillips is operating with a bit more freedom down the right in this half.

Lampard gets it in and Mikel's header goes just over after Drogba flicked it on. A decent chance but he had little time to think about what to do.

Carragher concedes a corner as Malouda tangled with the defender.

Salomon Kalou is off for Claudio Pizzaro.

HALF-TIME: Not much between either team and a piece of class from Torres (ably assisted by his captain) is all that separates the teams. Mourinho is likely to bring on a sub or two if things don't change quickly for his side in the second-half.

Gerrard sportingly returns the ball to Chelsea when play resumes - seventy yards up the pitch and that is it...

Torres is down on the floor and appears to be clutching his leg after playing the meat in a Drogba/Mikel sandwich. He is up now though and walking off the pitch for some more treatment.

When the free-kick comes in Reina is on hand to take the ball. He sees Pennant in space and feeds him. The winger's cross towards Torres is too far behind the striker though and the chance is lost.

Gerrard is now booked for going in late on Mikel.

Jamie Carragher hoofs the ball high out of play to loud cheers from the home support.

Liverpool nearly pay for his ill thought out words when the ball is whipped in and John Terry just fails to connect with it five yards from goal.

It's hotting up a bit now and Jermaine Pennant goes in the book for complaining too heartily to the referee.

Torres fouls Terry blatantly and the referee gives a free-kick.

Ashley Cole is justifiably furious that he has not won a corner. A guilty-looking Jamie Carragher is seen strolling away whistling.

Nice work from Ashley Cole down the left and his cross gives Drogba half a chance. Half? Well, two-fifths perhaps. Liverpool get it away.

Frank Lampard just touched the ball. He has been rather anonymous so far this afternoon.

Good covering tackle from Arbeloa who scampered back to put in a tackle on Drogba.

A terrible effort from Kuyt goes high in to the Anfield Road stand.

Kuyt is now booked however for persistent fouling.

Kuyt harries Ben Haim prevents the defender clearing the ball up the park. Kuyt is putting a good shift in up front for Liverpool.

Wright-Phillips skips around Arbeloa and delivers a fine cross for Drogba who is unable to direct his header on target. A decent chance for the Blues.

Drogba battles his way through the Liverpool defence and wons a Chelsea throw-in. The ball breaks to Kalou in the penalty area and, just as the goal seemed to be opening up for him, Steven Gerrard appears from nowhere to put in a fantastic challenge and clear the danger.

A header from twelve yards by Riise goes straight in to the hands of Cech.

A terrible corner and Liverpool deal with it easily. They get the ball back up the park and Kuyt immediately hassles the Chelsea back four. Once more however he puts in a foul and concedes the free-kick.

His effort strikes the part of the wall named Jermaine Pennant for a Chelsea corner.

Malouda goes down theatrically as Alonso puts in a tackle. Didier Drogba will have looked on approvingly at the dive and it is the big Chelsea man who will take the free-kick from twenty -five yards out.

Kuyt tracks back to put in a challenge on Essien but is judged to have been a bit too eager in his attempts. Chelsea get a free-kick.

Good tackle on Torres by Mikel but the Liverpool striker is making a real nuisance of himself now.

Torres goes down in the box this time under the challenge of Ben Haim but the referee quite rightly waves play on.

GOAL: Fernando Torres has opened his Liverpool acount in some style. A wonderful pass from Gerrard slices the Chelsea defence apart. Torres then beats Ben Haim comfortably but still has work to do as he has been pushed wide. The Spaniard then slides the ball past Petr Cech and the ball goes in off the post. A great goal.

Xavi Alonso loses possession and puts his team in danger. Fortunately for him the Liverpool centre-halves are on hand to block the path of the oncoming Malouda.

Good strong tackle on Wright-Phillips by Gerrard.

Riise fires a shot in from twenty yards out but Cech is well positioned and collects comfortably enough.

This time the referee saw something and he acts. What he saw was Michael Essien hacking down Alvaro Arbeloa. And what Rob Styles does is show the first yellow card of the game to the Chelsea man.

Dirk Kuyt appeared to have his legs taken away by Malouda but he doesn't complain and the referee didn't see it. Perhaps I imagined it.

Another rubbish shot from Gerrard. Closer though this time. A goal-kick is the outcome.

Reina collects a high ball in from the left from Mikel.

At the other end, Torres tries his luck at this shooting malarkey but his effort is also struck wide.

Drogba and Malouda link up well but neither of them seems to want to have the shot and Liverpool eventually crowd them out.

The ball is eventually cleared by Kalou with an acrobatic bicyle kick.

Michael Essien deflects Riise's cross behind for a corner. Up they come.

The Chelsea fans are singing about cutting grass as Gerrard unleashes perhaps the worst shot of his career. It goes out of play. For a throw-in.

A terrible touch from John Arne Riise on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area and his poor control allows Cech to come and claim the ball. Perhaps the pass came too early in the game for Riise but he will not get a better chance in the game. Probably.

Drogba makes the most of some slack defending and has a go from long range. It's well wide and Jamie Carragher (for it was he who dithered) will be pleased with that.

The game starts with Chelsea attacking the Kop. And it is the visitors who get us underway.

Pizarro is actually starting on the bench this afternoon so the goal-scoring responsibilities rest with Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou up front for the Blues.

The strains of You'll Never Walk alone echo around Anfield as the players line up in the tunnel. Jose Reina has just scrached his head.

John Terry returns to the Chelsea defence and his England colleague Steven Gerrard will start once more in his favoured position in the middle of the park.

Hopefully new signings Fernando Torres and Claudio Pizarro can bring some spark to what should be a tight match.

Round three hundred and twenty six and a half of what has become an intense rivalry in the last couple of years takes place at Anfield this afternoon, and both sides will be hoping to capatalise on main title rivals Manchester United's slip-up earlier today.

Someone once told me that if you give an infinite number of monkeys an infinite number of typewriters one of them will eventually write the Bible. He may have been wrong (lying even) but law of averages dictates that Liverpool and Chelsea are bound to produce a decent game of football between them at some point.