Dominic Solanke took his goal tally to 41 for the season after scoring a match-winning hat-trick against Liverpool in the U21 Premier League at the Electrical Services Stadium on Thursday night.

The win took Chelsea to within three points of Manchester United at the top of Division 1 and dealt a crushing blow to Liverpool's chances of winning the title.

Jerome Sinclair had given the visitors the lead in the first half but goal machine Solanke scored twice before Alex Kiwomya added a third before the break.

Chelsea striker Dominic Solanke celebrates on an evening that he took his tally to 41 with a hat-trick

Cameron Brannagan halved the deficit after the interval before 17-year-old Solanke sealed his hat-trick. Substitute Harry Wilson pulled one back for Liverpool in injury-time but it was too late to have a meaningful impact on the result.

Chelsea assistant Andy Myers said after the game: 'We had to dig deep & grind out the result; that's a huge part of development.'

The Blues have now won three league fixtures in a row and Adi Viveash's side still have a game in hand over the league leaders as they remain in the hunt for the title.

Liverpool remain in second place but missed the chance to go top and are now just one point ahead of Thursday's opponents having played two games more.