Chelsea star admits they targeted Mohamed Salah as Arne Slot warned he has 'clear problem'

Marc Cucurella says Chelsea deliberately targeted Mohamed Salah during Liverpool's defeat to the west London outfit on Saturday. The Spaniard provided the assist for Estevao's dramatic late winner as Arne Slot's men suffered their third consecutive loss.

The Reds were once more below their usual standards, with Mohamed Salah experiencing a night to forget in front of goal. However, they appeared poised to salvage a point after Cody Gakpo equalised Moises Caicedo's opener, only to be undone by another stoppage-time winner for the second successive weekend following last Saturday's reverse at Crystal Palace.

Salah, who has netted three goals and provided three assists so far this season from 10 appearances, has faced criticism in certain quarters, prompting Slot to back the Egyptian after the final whistle at Stamford Bridge.

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However, Cucurella has disclosed that Chelsea did indeed seek to exploit the Liverpool forward and capitalise on the space he vacates defensively on the Reds' right flank, with their decisive goal originating from the Spaniard advancing down that channel.

"I think we deserve it," Cucurella told Sky Sports.

"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 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].

"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."

Whilst Cucurella highlighted Salah's threat, Manchester United icon Wayne Rooney identified how Chelsea also targeted Conor Bradley down that wing before his half-time substitution.

"It's a clear problem Liverpool have got in the right back area,' he said on Match of the Day. "Conor Bradley has come off twice at half-time in the last two league games.

"They've tried Dominik Szoboszlai but it hasn't really worked for him. Jeremie Frimpong was on the bench today but didn't get on so they've tried three right-backs in seven league games.

"Chelsea have seen that and exploited it. The Liverpool back-four were all over the place at times, there were warning signs early on.

"Bradley got a yellow card and I'm sure that was a big factor in him getting subbed off at half-time. It was a big problem for Liverpool today as it has been all season."

Slot later confirmed that Bradley's interval withdrawal for Wirtz was indeed due to his booking.

"Most of the times I've changed the full-backs it's mainly down to them being on a yellow," he explained. "So again today, Conor Bradley was on a yellow card.

"Made a second foul, if you can call that a foul. Players were asking for yellow again. So then you wonder if that is then smart to keep him on the pitch.

"We also then needed Florian to come into the game. And by doing that I could play Dom as right full-back."

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