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Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella has revealed his side deliberately targeted the space left by Mohamed Salah to guide the Blues to their win over Liverpool.
The Reds were sentenced to a third straight defeat in seven days as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge. For the second consecutive week, Arne Slot's side succumbed to a stoppage time goal, with Estevao striking late for the hosts after goals from Cody Gakpo and Moises Caicedo.
The defeat means Liverpool goes into the October international break having been leapfrogged by Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table. The Gunners now hold a one-point lead, with both sides having played seven games.
Cucurella proved to be the provider for Estevao's late winner as he managed to run into space in the penalty area before sliding the ball across goal, where Estevao was on hand at the back post to beat Andy Robertson and turn it home.
The Spanish international revealed to Sky Sports after the game that his side had worked on exploiting the space left by Salah, whose tendency to stay forward while his side is defending may have proved costly on this occasion.
"We try to attack always because we know Salah is always ready to counter-attack, so we practice and the manager always tells us the space is maybe there," Cucurella said.
"We saw it was the last minute, I think we created good chances but I thought we were going to score, and I tried to give my last effort, and it ends up being a good ball.
"I think they play one style of game where Salah is always ready to attack so we prepare for that. If we do a good process, maybe we will have a lot of space in there. Today it works, and we won the game in this way."
According to former Liverpool captain Jamie Redknapp though, that wasn't the only problem the Reds had against Chelsea, and he believes they're missing one of their summer departures.
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"They've also got problems at fullback," Redknapp said. "It's apparent, they're missing Trent [Alexander-Arnold], you look at how they're playing , since the Burnley game they've not played the same right-back, they've gone with [Dominik] Szoboszlai, [Jeremie] Frimpong, and Conor Bradley today.
"Conor obviously had a difficult 45 minutes, he gets taken off, it's a problem area for them. Even at left-back, [Milos] Kerkez looked like he was going to be a fantastic signing, he hasn't adjusted yet, for whatever reason.
"It might be a reason to give Andy Robertson a run, but looking at that injury at the end of the game, that's a real worry for them. I know they've got the international break, but that looked like a nasty one that he's picked up."
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