Cole was set up on the play by some nice work from Didier Drogba, who gave the Liverpool back line all it could handle on Wednesday. Frank Lampard also played a strong match in the midfield for Chelsea, who were always the more dangerous team on this night and will now take a well-deserved lead into the return leg.

Chelsea opened the contest as the more aggressive team, taking the game to Liverpool and enjoying the majority of the possession. The first good chance of the match fell to Lampard, who slammed a half-volley from the penalty spot on target. However, the shot was right at Liverpool keeper Jose Reina, and he got enough of the ball to turn it aside.

Lampard threatened the Liverpool net again in the 23rd minute with a blistering free kick. The Chelsea midfielder drove a low shot past the wall that took a slight deflection off of Liverpool defender John Arne Riise and nearly found the lower left corner of the net.

The Chelsea pressure was beginning to mount and the Blues took advantage of a nice counter-attack chance in the 29th minute to go ahead.

Ricardo Carvalho took possession of the ball inside his own end and dribbled towards midfield before sliding a nice pass down the right flank to Drogba. The Ivory Coast international galloped down the wing and cut the ball back inside of defender Daniel Agger. He then threaded a pass to Cole eight yards from goal and the Englishman beat Reina with a lunging left-footed effort.

Liverpool did not test Chelsea keeper Petr Cech in the first half, but the Reds did show some signs of life in the final 10 minutes of the half as Dirk Kuyt found the head of Steven Gerrard inside the Chelsea area, but the Liverpool skipper's header went well wide of the target.

The visitors continued their positive play after the restart with Riise crossing from the left for Kuyt, who headed the ball just over the cross bar. Gerrard then forced a great save from Cech in the 53rd minute when he struck a left-footed volley from the top of the box that Cech punched to safety with a diving stop to his left.

Chelsea seemed content with its one-goal lead and began to let the Liverpool midfield dictate play. The Reds were unable to take advantage of their opportunities, however, and Chelsea nearly extended its lead in the final 12 minutes.

A dangerous free kick from Lampard almost provided the second goal as his chip was met by the head of Drogba inside the area. Drogba outjumped Liverpool's Jamie Carragher but his header went inches wide of the left post.

Drogba and Lampard teamed up once again three minutes later to give the home side another great scoring chance. Drogba took a long ball from the back and laid it off for Lampard, who ran onto it and drilled a hard volley towards the upper right corner. Only a fantastic save from Reina kept the ball out as the keeper got his left hand to the shot to knock it over the net.

Chelsea had one final opportunity to extend its advantage as a stoppage-time corner kick allowed Drogba to get his head to the cross, but the ball sailed wide of the far post and Chelsea will now take that one-goal lead to Anfield next Tuesday in an effort to keep its hopes alive for the quadruple.