Chelsea 0-2 Liverpool: Reds heap pressure on AVB

Victory, at a price that might be very costly.

But on a night when Kenny Dalglish's enduring affair with both the Carling Cup and his favourite opponents continued, Andre Villas-Boas plunged deeper into the mire.

Inspired by Craig Bellamy and - until his worrying knee injury - Lucas Leiva and despite the best efforts of blunder ref Phil Dowd, Liverpool moved to within 180 minutes of their first Wembley appearance since 1996.

Villas-Boas, though, took an equally big step nearer the Stamford Bridge exit door, next week's Champions League date with Valencia emerging as, truly, football "life or death" for the Portuguese.

What was teed up as the battle of the flops, with Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll adding up to £85million-worth of under-achievement, was transformed into a tale of two managers.

The best of times for Dalglish, revelling in his second coming at Anfield, relishing his second win at Stamford Bridge in nine days and making it 13 unbeaten against Chelsea in his two spells as Liverpool manager.

But the worst of times for Villas-Boas, who could never have conceived of five defeats in nine matches when he was building his team of Porto invincibles 12 months ago.

For the Chelsea boss, the next three games, at Newcastle then home to Valencia and Manchester City, will surely determine his length of tenure in SW6, no matter that Roman Abramovich and the Blues board are desperate to back him.

Their faith, like that of the Bridge fans who jeered their displeasure at the final whistle, has been shaken and shocked by the disintegration of Chelsea's season.

And while Villas-Boas' team-sheet - missing John Terry, Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole and others - gave him an alibi last night, the jury is ready to consider a guilty verdict.

Not that Villas-Boas, for all his misplaced optimism in Ryan Bertrand, Romelu Lukaku and the unfortunate Josh McEachran, was the most guilty party on display.

Nor, despite a performance that made Carroll look good - and, in truth, despite playing against Alex and David Luiz, he wasn't - was Torres, even if the Spaniard now cuts a diminished, peripheral, unrecognisable figure, failing to make any impact at all.

That badge of shame must go to Dowd, who gave arguably the worst officiating performance witnessed at the Bridge since Tom Henning Ovrebo cheated Chelsea out of a Champions League Final appearance in 2009.

In the first half alone, Dowd missed two stone-wall penalties and then rightly gave a third only after he was surrounded by furious Liverpool players, could have given another as well and booked Bertrand for what was a potential red card foul by Lukaku instead.

The first came when Luiz was downed by Sebastian Coates, with the Brazilian ludicrously booked for diving, although the Chelsea man instantly got away with one when he barged Carroll in the back.

Dowd did give a spot-kick when Alex unaccountably raised his arm as Carroll met another searching Luis Enrique centre, although he initially gave a goal kick before changing his decision completely as Liverpool vented their disbelief.

Carroll's penalty was smashed straight at Ross Turnbull and Liverpool might have paid the price when Florent Malouda volleyed down and up onto the barf with Coates throwing himself in front of Luiz's rebound.

Enter Bellamy. The Welshman, paying his own tribute to Gary Speed, exposed Chelsea's high defensive line when he received from Jordan Henderson - the victim of Lukaku's earlier lunge - and then, just as in the league game, set up Maxi Rodriguez for a tap-in.

And before Villas-Boas could send on the reinforcements, Bellamy was at it again, drawing a foul from Ramires on the left and delivering the free-kick into the danger-zone where Martin Kelly, between the ball-watching Luiz and Lukaku, glanced home.

No way back for Chelsea, with only Lucas' injury, after a clash with Juan Mata, clouding Dalglish's evening.

The storm clouds, though, are gathering darker still over Villas-Boas, his hold on the job looking more fragile with every passing week.

He has never been in this situation before. It looks that way as well.

Drogba Lite Lukaku was devilishly lucky to survive after a diabolical challenge on Henderson

Tweet my Goal! The best gags from Tuesday night's Carling Cup games