Liverpool lost 1-0 at Chelsea. A tough defeat. Chelsea's winner was a brilliant something-out-of-nothing swivel shot by Drogba. Other than that, Chelsea did not look particularly dangerous, even when they had 11 men. Ballack got sent off in the 51st minute, and that extinguished any threat in the second half.

Ballack's departure emboldened the Reds but led to nothing. Liverpool spent a lot of time using Pennant to cross balls that Chelsea easily defensed. Gerrard did not distinguish himself, and in fact was notable mostly for missing an open shot against Cech from 10 yards. Stevie shot it right at him. Later in the half Crouch turned a nice cross into a gentle header directly at Cech. Snap your body into it, Crouchinho!

I remain unimpressed with Kuyt. The Bigsoccer.com folks seem delighted with his pace and energy, but merely fast and lively does not a successful striker make. Kuyt was regularly dispossessed of the ball by the Chelsea defense, and created little for other players when he received the ball with his back to the goal. I prefer the Bellamy-Crouch pairing.

My Liverpool = Premiership Champion prediction is looking more and more silly. I'm keeping my day job.

FF