On this day: Liverpool end Chelsea's 86-match unbeaten home run

By Joe Fish, Reporter | 26 October 2014

On this day in 2008, Chelsea's 86-game unbeaten Premier League home run came to an end as Xabi Alonso's strike gave Liverpool a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge.

Some people have suggested that there is an air of invincibility about this season's Chelsea side following their storming start to the Premier League season.

The Blues have firmly established themselves as title favourites by picking up 22 points from their first eight games of the campaign to sit proudly atop the table.

And for four years between 2004 and 2008, they were invincible at home as they embarked on an 86-match unbeaten run on their own soil in the top flight.

Claudio Ranieri got the ball rolling with six home matches without defeat at the end of the 2003-04 season, but it was during Jose Mourinho's tenure at Stamford Bridge when the numbers reached staggering levels.

The Portuguese never lost a home Premier League game throughout his first spell in charge, a record that was ended by Sunderland upon his return to the club last term.

Relative unknown Avram Grant had the unenviable task of replacing a manager who had delivered five major trophies to Chelsea, and while he fell agonisingly short of both the Premier League and Champions League, he maintained their unconquerable home form.

All good things must come to an end, though, and it was on this day, October 26, in 2008, when the Stamford Bridge fortress was toppled by a Liverpool side who inflicted a first defeat on Luis Felipe Scolari.

The 1,462 days without league defeat on their own patch was remarkable, but the run came to an end with a whimper as a deflected Xabi Alonso strike was enough for a Reds side aiming to prove their title credentials.

The Spaniard's 10th-minute effort flicked off the shoulder of Jose Bosingwa to sneak past Petr Cech, and Chelsea could not muster the same type of response that they had several times under Mourinho and Grant.

In fact it was Alonso who came closest to adding to the scores when he hit the crossbar with a second-half free kick. Ashley Cole missed Chelsea's best chance to reply as they suffered a 1-0 loss which hurt more than most.

Liverpool's victory saw them leapfrog Chelsea to the Premier League summit, and Rafael Benitez's side stayed there for much of the season before losing out to Manchester United for the championship. Scolari was sacked the following February.

Benitez told reporters after the match: "We knew about the record. We needed to come here and believe with a very good mentality and I think that the players showed character, they showed quality. They way they played was amazing. They were pushing and pushing so I think everything was almost perfect."

Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa (Sinclair 84), Carvalho, Terry, Cole; Mikel, Kalou (Di Santo 58), Deco, Lampard, Malouda (Belletti 58), Anelka

Liverpool: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio; Alonso, Mascherano, Kuyt (Lucas 88), Gerrard, Riera (Hyypia 90), Keane (Babel 60)