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Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea – The Postmortem

This was a game that pitted two emerging head coaches against one another, as Anfield hosted a tactical contest between two giants of the Premier League era.

Below is how the team lined up, with match details following.

The Starting Eleven

GK – Caoimhin Kelleher

RB – Trent Alexander Arnold

RCB – Ibrahima Konaté

LCB – Virgil van Dijk (c)

LB – Andy Robertson

CM – Curtis Jones

ACM – Dominik Szoboszlai

CM – Ryan Gravenberch

RF – Mohamed Salah

CF – Diogo Jota

LF – Cody Gakpo

Subs

Darwin Núñez – Diogo Jota (30 mins)

Luis Díaz – Cody Gakpo (66 mins)

Joe Gomez – Trent Alexander Arnold (81 mins)

Alexis Mac Allister – Curtis Jones (81 mins)

Goals (Assisted by)

Liverpool 1 – 0 Chelsea

Mohamed Salah (Penalty) – 29 mins

Liverpool 1 – 1 Chelsea

Nicolas Jackson (Moisés Caicedo) – 48 mins

Liverpool 2 – 1 Chelsea

Curtis Jones (Mohamed Salah) – 51 mins

Important Match Stats

Possession

Liverpool 43% – 57% Chelsea

Total Shots

Liverpool 8 – 11 Chelsea

Crosses

Liverpool 9 – 14 Chelsea

Corner Kicks 

Liverpool 1 – 5 Chelsea

Counter Attacks

Liverpool 4 – 0 Chelsea

Goalkeeper Saves

Liverpool 1 – 3 Chelsea

First Half

The opening period of this game was a cagey affair that enabled the best parts of Chelsea’s possession-based game to emerge on the Anfield pitch. As a student of perhaps the greatest ever footballing coach, Pep Guardiola, Enzo Maresca set out his side in the vision he wished, which was to always show patience and control of the ball. As the game state settled, it became clear that Chelsea would look to create openings through coordinated patterns of play, whereas the hosts would look to press the opposing team and launch counter attacks against a high line defence.

Diogo Jota was the first to truly test that half pitch endeavour, with Ibou winning the ball powerfully, before a direct pass forced Tosin Adarabioyo to haul down the Portuguese attacker as he rushed into the opposition half. This near exact same scenario had seen Arsenals own defender, William Saliba, sent off the day prior against their eventual victors, Bournemouth. On this occasion, the blues summer signing escaped with just a yellow card, however, the foul appeared to damage the reds 27-year-old forward, who was forced to leave the field shortly thereafter.

Just prior to the alteration (that saw Darwin Núñez replace Jota), another attack had enabled Mohamed Salah to probe and penetrate from the right. It would be the Egyptian King who would soon open the scoring, after Curtis Jones had latched onto an effort by the record-breaking scorer. Unaware of his surroundings, Levi Colwill’s attempted clearance only served to bring down Jones, who placed himself intelligently between the ball and unaware defender. Following a brief deliberation by VAR, the spot kick was awarded, one which was firmly dispatched by the reds no.11.

Within that enthralling opening half, both Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson had half chances to score on their opponent’s goal, only for each effort to miss Caoimhin Kelleher’s frame. In addition to those wayward shots, the vibrant forward running of the reds no.23, Curtis Jones, forced another penalty appeal, as he was brought down due a heavy collision with the opposing keeper, Robert Sánchez.

Initially, the on-pitch official had awarded the penalty, however, VAR intervened and eventually the controversial call was reversed. A Cody Gakpo goal was also disallowed, with an earlier offside coming to light upon review at Stanley Park.

The first period ended with Liverpool one goal up and probably worthy of their lead.

The Second Half

On resumption of the second half, no additional changes were made, as the Liverpool Head Coach sent out the same eleven men which had ended the first half. Almost immediately after the restart, the scores became level. Despite a very assured showing by both Ibrahima Konaté, and his towering skipper, Virgil van Dijk, a misjudgement in the defensive line saw the Frenchman drop back slightly, as the Dutchman held his ground.

This momentary indecision allowed the blues impressive striker, Nicolas Jackson, a split second to surge forward and meet the incoming through-ball. A last gasp challenge by the incoming Scot, Andy Robertson, could not stop the jet heeled attacker from passing the ball beyond the red’s keeper, Caoimhin Kelleher, before nestling just inside the near post.

Luckily for the disappointed Liverpool support, it would take only a few minutes for their lead to be restored, courtesy of the man of the match, Curtis Jones. With some clever movement and a perfectly timed run into the opposition box, the versatile midfielder was able to meet the angled cross from Mohamed Salah, before easing the ball past a questionable Chelsea keeper. The lead was restored and the game then became about game management from the hosts.

With substitutions coming into the contest to allow better coverage and stability, the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Darwin Núñez, Joe Gomez, and Alexis Mac Allister, all pressed and caused enough hesitation to starve Chelsea of any free slowing play. Trent Alexander Arnold was quite superb in his defensive duties, whilst his opposite fullback, Andy Robertson, gave his all to ensure the score remained level.

The game petered out with Liverpool comfortable and Chelsea disheartened. The match ended at 2-1 and the reds were worthy of their victory.

Final Thoughts

This was a game that needed to be won, even if the process towards three points was unspectacular. Manchester City stumbled to a late win at Wolves just hours prior, as Arsenal lost to Bournemouth on the previous day. Character and intensity are being shown under new leadership that is giving hope to a season long charge for glory, which can only be maintained by winning ugly and securing these difficult victories.

Top of the Premier League is where Liverpool remain and much like today, they now have something important to hold onto.

Steven Smith’s Pre-match Prediction:

Liverpool 2 – 1 Chelsea

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