League leaders beaten by Chelsea

Liverpool failed to go six points clear at the top of the Premiership table tonight after their normally resilient defence collapsed at Stamford Bridge where they went down 4-0 to Chelsea. The Blues made the most of their chances, taking the lead with just three minutes on the clock through Graeme Le Saux, before adding further goals from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Sam dalla Bona and Eidur Gudjohnsen. Liverpool had one chance to pull themselves back into this tie when awarded a penalty at 2-0 down but Chelsea keeper Carlo Cudicini was in superb form and saved Gary McAllister's effort from the spot.

Chelsea could have a major say in where this year's Premiership title eventually ends up after they added to their 3-0 defeat of reigning champions Manchester United with another fine display against current leaders Liverpool this afternoon, who have now dropped five points in four days.

The Reds have not won at Stamford Bridge for almost 12 years and the drama began after just three minutes when Graeme Le Saux scored his first goal in four years. Jamie Carragher failed to cut out Hasselbaink's chipped pass into the path of Le Saux and although his first shot was tipped onto the post by keeper Jerzy Dudek, Le Saux followed up to net the rebound.

Despite the severity of the scoreline, Liverpool created plenty of chances themselves but were denied on each and every occasion by a fine display from Cudicini. It was on one of those occasions, after Cudicini had saved from Igor Biscan, that Chelsea swept downfield to double their lead. Eidur Gudjohnsen's flick put Hasselbaink through and he held off Carragher with ease before chipping the ball beautifully over the advancing Dudek.

Chelsea were well in control by this stage and so Liverpool boss Phil Thompson made several changes at half-time, bringing on Stephen Wright for Biscan and switching around players in various positions. Liverpool were without the services of Michael Owen, who was rested as a precautionary measure due to his hamstring problems, but were gifted a chance to pull a goal back when awarded a penalty five minutes into the second-half.

Melchiot was adjudged to have brought down John Arne Riise and McAllister stepped up to take the spot-kick but Cudicini, who also saved a spot-kick from Kevin Phillips last weekend, dived to his left to clutch onto the ball. To their credit, Liverpool continued to press forward in an effort to rescue at least a point from this encounter but Cudicini continued to frustrate them as he denied Riise twice as well as Danny Murphy.

It was all over for Liverpool when they were caught out on the counter-attack on 71 minutes. Dudek failed to hold onto a shot from Frank Lampard and Sam dalla Bona was left unmarked to force home the loose ball. The final dent to Liverpool's pride arrived in injury-time when Gudjohnsen beat Dudek at the second attempt.

Filed by Amanda Fennelly