Chelsea player ratings vs Liverpool: Mike Penders stands out, Wesley Fofana struggles

Chelsea's ratings from Liverpool vs Chelsea were split between Mike Penders's 8 and Wesley Fofana's 3 after a 20-kick shootout at Anfield. Chelsea were dumped out of the Carabao Cup in the fourth round after the tie was decided from the spot, with the match finishing 1-1 after 90 minutes.

Penders' night in goal

Penders earned the best mark in the Chelsea XI and had the kind of evening a young goalkeeper needs after a wobble. He made three saves in open play, then produced a crucial stop in sudden death by denying Ryan Gravenberch. Arthur Ferridge of Standard Sport said he made "a wonderful reaction save to deny Ronald Araujo on the hour mark, and another to foil Bradley Barcola shortly after." Penders also finished with an 8, well above most of his team-mates.

Fofana's costly errors

Fofana's 3 tells the other side of the story. He handled the ball in the area, conceded the equalising penalty and later launched his own spot kick over the crossbar. Ferridge wrote that he "inexplicably raised his hand over his head in defending a corner" and that he "missed the decisive spot kick." Josh Acheampong also featured for Chelsea, but this was the night when Fofana's mistakes outweighed the three tackles he won and dragged his rating to the bottom of the chart.

The tie levelled after penalties from Morgan Rogers and Cody Gakpo, then went to sudden death after Kostas Tsimikas missed a potential winner into the Kop end. From there, Penders briefly kept Chelsea alive, before Fofana's miss at the other end sent Liverpool through and left Chelsea with the harshest possible split in their ratings.