Luis Suarez cannot be kept out of the game. Be it for his incredible play or his far from endearing on-field behaviour, Suarez will, more often than not, grab the headlines.
In a Jekyll and Hyde performance, Suarez first gave an unnecessary penalty, then appeared to bite the arm of Branislav Ivanovic, before popping up perfectly to head home an equalizer in the final kick of the game.
It looked like a happy homecoming for Rafa Benitez to Liverpool after an Eden Hazard penalty, after Daniel Sturridge canceled out Oscar's opener, seemed to have given Chelsea all three points, only for Suarez to snatch a point right at the death.
Chelsea remain fourth on 62 points, one behind Arsenal, albeit with a game in hand. Tottenham are fifth, one behind the Blues on 61 points.
Benitez was expectedly given a warm ovation by the Anfield fans, with the Chelsea manager giving a wave to the home side's fans.
Liverpool looked to take the game to Chelsea in the first couple of minutes, and Glen Johnson nearly scored in the third minute.
Johnson started the move with a run from Liverpool's half, before giving the ball to Jordan Henderson, who in turn gave Suarez possession. The Uruguayan slipped in a nice through pass to Johnson, who had continued his run, but the defender lacked composure and only managed to toe-poke it harmlessly wide.
The Chelsea triumvirate looked to find a way through the Liverpool backline, with a couple of half-chances going astray. The first 45, at the end of the day, was just a little disjointed really, with a couple of neat passes immediately followed by a giveaway.
Liverpool, in particular, were culpable on quite a few occasions as the home side failed to find the passing and possession-based game that Brendan Rodgers preaches.
The opening goal came in the 26th minute, with Liverpool guilty of letting Oscar, of all people, find the back of the net off a header from the near post.
David Luiz nearly scored his second consecutive goal from 35 yards, when his freekick almost sneaked by Pepe Reina, who recovered quickly after spilling the Chelsea defender's initial effort.
The home side continued to look nervous in possession, and with Chelsea also not exactly cranking into top gear the game petered out in the final 20 minutes of the first half.
Liverpool were a transformed side in the second half, though, as the decision to bring on Daniel Sturridge for Philippe Coutinho worked wonders.
The former Chelsea forward immediately made a huge impact, carving out a couple of chances before scoring the equalizer.
The first opportunity came right at the beginning, when Sturridge made a run down the right before picking out Steven Gerrard, whose shot was brilliantly kept out by Petr Cech with his feet.
Sturridge then hit the woodwork with a stunning strike from 25 yards, before the deserved goal came in the 52nd minute, via a brilliant move from Liverpool.
Jamie Carragher played a nice pass over the top to Stewart Downing, who hooked the ball first-time to Suarez. The Uruguayan then played a perfect cross to Sturridge to tap home at the back post.
Liverpool now had their tails up, but found themselves a goal down again thanks to a brain-freeze from Suarez. The Liverpool striker handled the ball unnecessarily inside the penalty box off a corner, with Eden Hazard stepping up and calmly slotting it into the back of the net after sending Pepe Reina the wrong way.
Liverpool did their best to find the second goal, but Suarez provided a big talking point yet again. The Uruguayan, in a tussle with Branislav Ivanovic, seemed to bite the Chelsea defender's arm as he looked to gain any kind of advantage. Ivanovic immediately protested, but nothing was given, as neither the referee nor the assistant referee seemed to have seen the event in question.
Suarez was incidentally banned for seven games in the Dutch Eredivisie, during his time with Ajax, for biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal on the shoulder in 2010.
As the game continued, substitute Jonjo Shelvey missed a glorious opportunity to equalize late on, before that man Suarez scored to make it 2-2 in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
Sturridge played a brilliant cross from the right to Suarez, who made no mistake, heading home past Cech from six yards out to put a dent on Chelsea's top-four hopes.
