Liverpool travelled to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea on Sunday. Some were considering it a six-pointer in the title race. It was a game that could have been a statement for either team depending on the result. And with the firepower on both sides and the supposed “rivalry” between the two managers, it was taking form of a classic between two heavyweights.
For the first 45 minutes it was exactly that. A brilliant tactical battle that was in the balance. Liverpool were dominant on a possession standpoint, but Chelsea arguably were more dangerous than Liverpool with less of the ball. The reason why was former Liverpool target and new Chelsea acquisition Timo Werner. His pace was an obvious threat as he almost seemed to live in an offsides position. He seemed to be right in between onside and offsides the whole game. This asked a lot of questions of the Liverpool defense, but they answered most of them as Werner was offsides more often than not. A lot of this was down to a fantastic game from Fabinho who was playing out of position at center back.
It was a very interesting and intriguing game from a neutral point of view. At least until right before halftime, where an exquisite Jordan Henderson through ball to Sadio Mané put Chelsea’s defense in trouble. The solution was for Andreas Christensen to change sports to rugby/football for a second and tackle Sadio Mané before he could get to the ball. The ref originally gave Christensen a yellow card but upon further review with VAR he decided to change that decision to a red card. While this was a good thing for Liverpool, it changed the whole game.
Going into the second half a substitution was needed for Chelsea to replace Christensen at the back, so Fikayo Tomori came on in his place. Liverpool made a surprising substitution of their own bringing on exciting new signing Thiago Alcantara to replace Jordan Henderson who reportedly felt a tweak in his hamstring. Liverpool fans were happy to see their new man put on the number 6 shirt and get to work. And if you think about it, you couldn’t really choose a better time for Thiago to get his first minutes than playing against 10 men. As soon as he came on he was dictating play and orchestrating everything Liverpool were doing. It was truly amazing how fast he imposed himself on the game. He was playing so well that within five or ten minutes the Liverpool players were looking to pass to him every time they could. He also broke the record for most passes completed by a player in one half (playing a maximum of 45 minutes,) with 75. He was exactly as advertised; world class. However, all of this needs to be taken with a grain of salt as he was playing against a team that was down a man, which makes it a lot easier to impress. Nonetheless the early signs were very good.
Liverpool didn’t take long in the second half to take the lead. Chelsea decided to go into a very low defensive block in the second half. Which meant Liverpool had a lot of the ball and were on the front foot for the majority of the time. In the 50th minute Mohammed Salah and Roberto Firmino played a neat one two to get Firmino in and behind the Chelsea defense on the goal line. He crossed it in and Mané headed it brilliantly into the side netting for the 1-0 lead. It wasn’t long after that that Mané made it two. After his incomplete pass he pressured Kepa Arrizabalaga and the goalkeeper rather inexplicably tried to pass it past him. Mané did well to jump the passing lane and then put it into the back of the net to make it 2-0. A big mistake from Kepa that will continue the cries for a new goalkeeper from the Chelsea fans.
Mané’s second effort seemed to have ended the contest as Liverpool continued to dominate with possession and Chelsea seemed to have little to nothing going forward. However, in the 75th minute Werner won a penalty after Thiago inadvertently made contact with his legs tripping him. The penalty seemed like a way back into the game for Chelsea but Jorginho’s penalty was saved by Alisson. The goalie did well to just stand his ground while Jorginho did his hop step penalty routine. It was Jorginho’s first missed penalty in the Premier League. After that miss, the excitement in the game basically died off as Liverpool slowly possessed until the final whistle was blown.
This is a big win for Liverpool as they keep their 100% record on the season. The red card made it so that the game wasn’t necessarily a statement game for the Reds. With Chelsea a man down and without a lot of their new signings, you would expect Liverpool to come away with a win. So, this game doesn’t really say a lot about Liverpool, but it was good to get three points against a team that is possibly seen as a title rival. From Chelsea’s point of view this game raised a lot of questions around that possible title fight. You could argue that all of the key mistakes that were made today were by players that are going to be replaced by new signings. Christensen could be replaced by Thiago Silva. Marcos Alonso could arguably be at fault for the first goal and he’ll be replaced by Ben Chilwell. And with Chelsea on the brink of signing Edouard Mendy from Rennes, Kepa might be replaced by him as well.
This is why I think this game was way too early in the season to be making any sort of real statements or conclusions. Especially how the game went with the red card as well. The next time these two teams play it could be a completely different story. Chelsea have tons of very talented, starting players that didn’t play today and easily could have made a difference. So, to really know where Chelsea stands, we’ll have to wait for their team to be healthy.
From a Liverpool point of view, it was a win. And a win is a win no matter the circumstances. They played well but didn’t need to be at their best to get the win. They also were able to get 45 minutes under Thiago’s belt in a rather easy situation to do so. While this wasn’t a statement win, Liverpool still haven’t given anyone any reason to believe they are anything but serious title contenders.