01/01/2005  Liverpool 0 Chelsea 1
 
Chelsea celebrated in front of their fans at Anfield as if they had already won the championship. It may be a few months away yet but after their fourth straight league victory they will take some stopping now.

Joe Cole, who came on to score a crucial goal in the victory at Portsmouth on Tuesday, did so again today with a blistering drive from the edge of the box with 10 minutes left.

Liverpool gave everything, none more so than the tireless Steven Gerrard, and they could have had two first-half penalties when Tiago handled and Claude Makelele fouled Florent Sinama-Pongolle.

Their woes got even worse with the news that Xabi Alonso had broken an ankle following a foul by Frank Lampard that cost the Chelsea man a yellow card.

But the difference was that threadbare Liverpool, hampered by injuries, had nothing on the bench to change the game while Chelsea were able to bring on a trio of internationals to turn the game their way.

Liverpool, without Milan Baros and Harry Kewell, opted to leave the youngsters on the bench and play the senior men against the Barclays Premiership leaders.

Out went Stephen Warnock and Neil Mellor to allow Dietmar Hamann and Djimi Traore back into the side, with just Florent Sinama-Pongolle up front and Steven Gerrard playing an advanced role.

Chelsea, having spent £200million plus in two seasons, found little sympathy around Anfield following boss Jose Mourinho's complaints that he only has 17 fit players for this showdown. The former Porto chief was still able to replace Didier Drogba with Eidur Gudjohnsen.

Sinama-Pongolle's pace troubled William Gallas while Gerrard found Claude Makelele detailed to police him. And it was very much cat and mouse early on with Chelsea defending with composure and strength.

But Liverpool should have gone ahead when Traore exchanged first time passes with Sinama-Pongolle, the Frenchman arriving in the box to drill a low shot from 12 yards that Petr Cech had to block with his legs.

Chelsea response was high quality. Tiago's ball into space allowed Arjen Robben to spring the offside trap and drive into the box before shifting the ball to his left foot and giving Jerzy Dudek the opportunity to turn away the effort for a corner.

Chelsea showed they could dish out the tough stuff and Glen Johnson got away with a warning from referee Mike Riley for a foul on John Arne Riise early on but when Frank Lampard clattered into Alonso, he was cautioned.

The after effects of Lampard's challenge on Alonso meant that the Spanish midfielder was forced to hobble off on 27 minutes with what was soon diagnosed as a broken ankle.

Antonio Nunez took over but that caused a Liverpool reshuffle with Gerrard dropping back into midfield and Luis Garcia moving forward to support Sinama-Pongolle.

Chelsea had also swapped their wingers, with Robben on the left flank and Damien Duff on the right. The cause of Alonso's departure was not lost on the Kop and they roundly abused Lampard from then on.

On 38 minutes, Liverpool were convinced they were denied a penalty. It looked as if Tiago's hand had knocked away a Gerrard cross but referee Riley ignored immediate appeals and then had to calm collective Liverpool fury at the next stoppage of play.

Sinama-Pongolle went down under a challenge from Makelele amid more appeals for a penalty. Referee Riley actually awarded a free-kick to Chelsea although TV replays later showed it should have been a Liverpool penalty.

Luis Garcia was booked two minutes into the second period for a foul on Makelele, and two minutes later Duff got away from Carragher on the left before firing over a low cross that Gudjohnsen just failed to connect with in front of an open goal.

But the loss of Alonso had taken the creative spark from Liverpool and Chelsea were slowly taking over with some neat inter-passing as the second period wore on.

But Gerrard was still leading by example and he caught Johnson in possession and cut into the box to set up Luis Garcia but the little midfielder drove over from 16 yards.

Drogba took over from Gudjohnsen on 61 minutes and was flattened by Gerrard within seconds, referee Riley having to calm a mass of jostling players in the wake of the incident.

Joe Cole replaced Duff on 76 minutes and Chelsea were getting far greater possession as Liverpool tired and started to give the ball away too often for comfort.

When Robben fired over an 80th minute corner, Johnson nodded it back and Cole - unmarked on the edge of the box - fired in a low drive that looked to clip Carragher before flashing into the net.

On 83 minutes, Robben was replaced by Mateja Kezman, the third top-class substitute Chelsea had been able to introduce in the second period - the obvious difference between the sides.