Marc Cucurella reveals Chelsea targeted Liverpool star to get injury-time winner

Marc Cucurella assisted Chelsea’s winner vs Liverpool (Photo: Getty)

Marc Cucurella says Chelsea scored their last-minute winner against Liverpool by exploiting the weakness of one Reds star.

Liverpool were condemned to a third-defeat in a week after Estevao Willian scored in the 96th minute to give Chelsea a 2-1 win at a jubilant Stamford Bridge.

The result means Arsenal, who beat West Ham 2-0 earlier on Saturday, leapfrog the champions to go top of the Premier League ahead of the October international break.

Estevao’s connected with Cucurella’s pinpoint cross in the box, who himself was found by Enzo Fernandez with a perfect cross on Chelsea’s left-flank.

And the left-back later revealed that Enzo Maresca had told them to focus on that area of the pitch late on as he knew Mohamed Salah would not be back to defend there.

‘We know that Salah is always ready for the counter attack so we practiced that and the manager said that the space might be there [on the right side of Liverpool],’ Cucurella told Sky Sports.

‘We saw that it was the last minute but we kept attacking. I tried to give my last effort and Enzo gave me the ball and I crossed for Estevao.

Kerez struggled again at Stamford Bridge (Picture: Getty)

Slot’s side are simply not clicking into gear (Picture: Getty)

‘I think we deserve it. We started the game very well and then the second-half we started not in the right way again – we need to improve these things.

‘But in general I think we deserve this win. We came through some tough weeks, this moment was amazing and we go into the break with three points, so we are very happy.’

‘Most attackers are not going to track back every single time,’ former Liverpool and Chelsea forward Daniel Sturridge told Sky Sports.

Mo Salah struggled against his old club (Photo: Getty)

‘I think every team would say that, there are times where you don’t track back. I’ve played in that position as a winger, and sometimes you try to get away with one, but you might not get away with it.’

Liverpool’s right-flank has proven to be a problem this season, with Conor Bradley subbed off at half-time for the second game in a row.

‘They’ve got problems at full-back. They’re missing Trent [Alexander-Arnold],’ former Liverpool star Jamie Redknapp added.

‘They haven’t played the same right-back since the Burnley game. Bradley had a tough 45 minutes.’