London (AFP)

The Chelsea Blues conceded a disturbing loss to Sheffield United (3-0) on Saturday in their 35th day of the Premier League. The champion Liverpool failed to win at Anfield in the league for the first time in eighteen months, against Burnley (1-1).

Chelsea collapses

Ten days after a first warning on the West Ham field (3-2 defeat), the current third in the standings, Chelsea, lost again to Sheffield United (3-0), the surprise team of this season . A disastrous failure in several ways: it allows Leicester (59 points, one less than Chelsea) and Manchester United (58 points) to have the opportunity to pass in the standings Sunday and Monday. Three days to go, Chelsea no longer have their fate in hand for the next Champions League, despite a remarkable season, and seven victories in the last eight matches in all competitions, before this Saturday's match. Beyond the result, it is the way Chelsea bowed that calls out.

Led 2-0 from the half hour mark thanks to two goals from David McGoldrick (18th) and Oliver McBurnie (33th), who took advantage of a encrusted defensive sector (Zouma, Christensen and Jorginho, in the absence de Kanté), the Blues only created their first chances 25 minutes from the end, after Olivier Giroud came into play. Sheffield even widened the score late in the game, thanks to McGoldrick's cold realism (77th, 3-0).

With one more simple match (reception of the Norwich red lantern) and two more complicated matches (in Liverpool and in front of Wolverhampton), Frank Lampard had to worry.

End of series for Liverpool

Already champions, and already eliminated from the Cup and the Champions League, the Reds recorded their first league failure at Anfield since January 2019. "We left the door open, we should have closed it," said Jürgen Klopp at the end of the meeting. "We could have scored 2, 3 or 4 more goals at least" also insisted the German coach, otherwise dissatisfied with the refereeing, too lenient according to him.

First very dominating, Liverpool opened the scoring in the first period (Andrew Robertson, 34th), before being joined in the middle of the second (Jay Rodriguez, 69th). But the Reds really came close to losing to Burnley, a shot by Joey Gudmundsson on the bar two minutes before the end of regulation time could have resulted in their first home loss in the league since April 2017.

Watford and West Ham back on the sidelines

In the early afternoon, crucial maintenance matches allowed Watford and West Ham to get some fresh air. Winners of Newcastle (2-1) thanks to a double on penalty from Troy Deeney, the Watford Hornets regain six points ahead of the first relegation, Bournemouth, which has one game less.

Same margin now for West Ham, who sharply beat Norwich on his field (4-0) thanks to a quadruple of his striker thirty-year-old Michail Antonio. Norwich descends to Championship (D2) after a season among the elite. It is the fifth time the Norfolk club has descended from the Premier League, a record. Daniel Farke's team has not recovered from the long championship suspension linked to the coronavirus, since it has lost its seven games played since the resumption in mid-June. The start of the season had however been rather encouraging, in September, Norwich even beat defending champion Manchester City (3-2), who never recovered from this first defeat in the title race.

This 35th day - where a minute of silence is respected before each match in memory of former world champion 1966 Jack Charlton - continues on Sunday and Monday, with in particular the transfer from Leicester to Bournemouth and the reception of Southampton by Manchester United.

Results of the 35th day:

Saturday

Norwich City - West Ham 0 - 4

Watford - Newcastle 2 - 1

Liverpool - Burnley 1 - 1

Sheffield United - Chelsea 3 - 0

(19:00 GMT) Brighton - Manchester City

Sunday

(11:00 GMT) Wolverhampton - Everton

(1.15 p.m. GMT) Aston Villa - Crystal Palace

(3.30 p.m. GMT) Tottenham - Arsenal

(18:00 GMT) Bournemouth - Leicester

Monday

(19:00 GMT) Manchester United - Southampton

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