Super Suarez rescues a point at Stamford Bridge

Liverpool had Luis Suarez's remarkable goalscoring form to thank for rescuing a point from their clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge yesterday. The on-form number seven nodded home after 73 minutes to level the scores after Chelsea captain John Terry had given the hosts the lead in the first half, before being stretchered off with what looks like a season-threatening injury.

Conscious of the threat posed by Mata, Hazard, Torres and Oscar, Liverpool started with a 5-3-2 formation, as Agger, Wisdom and Carragher began at centre back, while Johnson and Enrique performed as full backs. Up front, Sterling played alongside Suarez. Reina once again missed out due to injury, allowing Jones to make his seventh consecutive appearance in goal.

After a minute's silence had been observed before kick-off for those in the armed forces, Chelsea began the better and, after grabbing the lead with their first sight of goal, continued to control the contest and dominate a disappointing Liverpool for the rest of the first 45 minutes. Uncharacteristically, Allen was dispossessed in a crucial area six minutes in, allowing Mata to find Oscar, who thankfully blazed over the bar when he should have done better.

The Londoners didn't have to wait long to take the lead, though, as Terry escaped the attention of Agger to tower above the Reds' defence and place a free header past Jones on 19 minutes.

Terry heads home his 50th Chelsea goal to give the Blues the lead

The rest of the first half saw Chelsea create several goalscoring chances, while Liverpool somehow managed to remain in the contest, despite coming under constant attack from their opponents and rarely troubling Cech, who was virtually a spectator.

First, Torres' shot went through Wisdom's legs and was beaten away by Jones, with Hazard firing the rebound wide. The former Liverpool striker then nodded over the bar, before Mata wasted a glorious chance on the stroke of half time, striking over the bar when one-on-one with the keeper after Wisdom and Carragher had been comfortably beaten. 

To add to their frustration from not doubling their advantage, Chelsea lost their skipper soon after the half hour mark, as John Terry suffered a knee ligament injury after an accidental collision with Suarez and had to be replaced by Cahill. The Englishman, who had only just returned from a four-match domestic ban for racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand, is likely to miss a significant portion of the campaign.

After Mata's left footed shot sailed wide and failed to compensate for his earlier miss, Liverpool's captain nearly suffered a serious injury as well. During a goalmouth scramble, Gerrard fell to the floor and remained there for a worrying amount of time, although he eventually returned to his feet, to the relief of Kopites. 

Out of the blue, the Reds equalised seventeen minutes from time. Suso's right wing corner was headed on superbly at the front post by Jamie Carragher. The ball travelled to Suarez at the back post who, after sneakily pushing Ramires in the back, headed home from close range.

Suarez heads home the equaliser

With the benefit of replays, it is clear that the Uruguyuan pushed Ramires in the back to gain an unfair advantage and therefore should have been penalised. However, Suarez will see this decision as payback for an equally inaccurate offside decision that prevented him bagging his hat-trick and the winner against Everton at Goodison Park. Ultimately, the age-old truism that football tends to even itself out over the course of a season tends to be correct.

The visitors were like a completely different side after the equaliser, and could quite feasibly have gone on to claim all three points. Suarez was sent through on goal and would have scored his second but for crucial intervention from Cech, while the Chelsea keeper was called into action again by Jose Enrique in injury time. 

Despite failing to clinch a winner, Liverpool will be the happier side following a 1-1 draw. For long spells, Chelsea dominated and they really should have been out of sight at the interval. Had the Reds adopted a more attacking approach from the off, they may have scored earlier and gone on to dominate the play, like they did during the closing stages.

Nonetheless, this result should definitely be seen positively as one point gained, rather than negatively as two points dropped.

YNWA