Under Jose Mourinho, Chelsea simply didn't lose at home. In fact, upon the Portuguese coach's departure in September 2007, his replacement, Avram Grant, also made Stamford Bridge a fortress.
The baton was handed to Luiz Felipe Scolari during the summer of 2008 and initially, the former Brazil boss carried on the good work as the Blues remained unbeaten at the Bridge from his first four matches in charge.
It meant that when Liverpool made the trip down to West London on this day five years ago, Chelsea had not tasted defeat in front of their own supporters for 86 games.
While Rafael Benitez's visitors were viewed as potential title challengers at this time, they had not won away at Chelsea during their last 18 attempts in the top flight and so it was expected that the home side's streak was going to continue.
However, with just 10 minutes on the clock, the Reds broke the deadlock. Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso was the scorer from 25 yards out, albeit with the aid of a deflection off Chelsea full-back Jose Bosingwa.
The hosts then proceeded to dominate the remainder of the half, but they were unable to draw themselves level. Deco went closest with a curling shot from distance which flew just inches wide of the target.
Although Chelsea continued to control the majority of the possession after the restart, the away side still posed a threat on the break. With 61 minutes played Alonso almost notched his second of the afternoon when his free kick beat Petr Cech, only for the ball to strike the post.
Chelsea's best opportunity of scoring an equaliser fell to substitute Franco di Santo, but the young Argentine sliced wide a cross from Frank Lampard and with it went the Londonder's unbeaten home record.
"It should give us a big lift. Before today, you'd have said Chelsea were as good as anyone in Europe," said Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher during his post-match interview. "Their run couldn't go on forever, they had to lose sometime and I'm just glad it was to us. We're top of the league now but it's a long way to go. It's only one game."
Liverpool would go on to end the campaign in second place behind rivals Manchester United, while Chelsea were a spot further back in third.
Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa (Sinclair 84), Carvalho, Terry, A Cole; Mikel, Kalou (Di Santo 58), Deco, Lampard, Malouda (Belletti 58); Anelka
Liverpool: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio; Alonso, Mascherano, Kuyt (Leiva Lucas 88), Gerrard, Riera (Hyypia 90); Keane (Babel 60)
Liam Apicella
