Champions Liverpool strolled to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Chelsea on Sunday afternoon, after Andreas Christensen‘s first half red card left the Blues chasing shadows in the Stamford Bridge sunshine. Sadio Mané scored twice in quick succession at the start of the second half, converting a close range header before capitalising on yet another Kepa Arrizabalaga mistake to double his side’s advantage. Jorginho had the chance to grab a consolation goal for his side from the spot, but saw his penalty saved by Alisson late on.
Pre-Match
Chelsea came into the game with a marker to lay down. The chance to get one over last season’s champions, in only the second game of the season, presented a fantastic opportunity to boost the confidence levels around the club.
Frank Lampard went with a largely similar starting lineup to the one used in Monday’s 3-1 victory away to Brighton, with the only change being Mateo Kovacic replacing Ruben Loftus-Cheek in midfield. Despite having the same names on the team sheet, the organisation looked to be slightly different, with Timo Werner spending a lot of time on the left with Kai Havertz more central.
First Half
It took a while for both sides to feel their way into the game, with Liverpool not at their fluid best from last season, whilst this new Chelsea side are still settling in and getting comfortable playing with each other.
With just under 15 minutes gone, the away side had the first chance of the game. A devilish deflection sent the ball spinning across the area, close enough to Kepa that he tried to come out and claim it. The Spaniard was beaten to it by Salah, who took it past him and crossed for Firmino, and thankfully for Chelsea Andreas Christensen was in just the right place to stop him tapping into an empty net.
The closest Chelsea came to some early joy was through Timo Werner, who capitalised on Liverpool’s high line and looked to be running through on goal, however stand-in centre back Fabinho covered well and looked solid one-on-one as he snuffed out the chance.
Getting his eye in in the Premier League, Werner went close again on the half hour mark, benefiting off of some fortunate bounces before driving at the Liverpool backline, but ultimately his left footed strike wasn’t the cleanest and dribbled just wide of the post.
Former Chelsea man Salah was the next to cause problems, as Chelsea’s defenders fell asleep as a cross was coming in, similarly to so many moments last season. The Egyptian was left free to control the ball and blast it low right across the six-yard box, where any touch would’ve taken it in, and Chelsea were lucky to come away unscathed.
Although nothing came from it, Kai Havertz gave Chelsea fans something to look forward to as half-time approached, whipping in a dangerous free kick that really should have had someone running on to it to convert from close range.
On the stroke of half-time, a moment came out of nowhere that would have a major impact on the game. A fantastic ball over the top from Jordan Henderson left Sadio Mané running clear on goal, leaving Christensen desperately chasing and Kepa charging out of his goal in a situation that looked bleak.
In what appeared to be a moment of complete panic, a trait Chelsea fans hope the experience of Thiago Silva will help to eradicate, Christensen grabbed hold of his man around his shoulders, dragging him to the ground in a challenge that would’ve seen red in rugby. Referee Paul Tierney showed a yellow card, before making his way over to the pitch side monitor to have a second look and showing a red card soon after.
That would give Frank Lampard’s team talk a much different tone and emphasis to it. It had now gone from trying to encourage his side to build and create more to win the game, to just trying to stay in it and if anything, salvage a point.
Second Half
The half-time change was inevitable after losing a defender to a red, and Kai Havertz was sacrificed for Fikayo Tomori, making his first appearance of the season after strong rumours linking him with a loan move away.
A sight no Chelsea fan would have wanted to see was Liverpool’s new signing Thiago also coming off the bench at half-time for his debut, a controller of the game who would make the ten men if Chelsea’s task that bit harder.
As the second half began, it instantly looked much harder for the Blues to get out and get a hold of possession, keeping everyone behind the ball when Liverpool were attacking – and it didn’t take them long to make their man advantage count.
An all too familiar sight and uncomfortable sight, Marcos Alonso was exposed down the left by a simple one-two between Firmino and Salah, with the former losing his man and crossing in for Mané to head in at the back post. Manager Frank Lampard will be knocking on the physio’s door tomorrow asking when Ben Chilwell will be available for selection.
Five minutes later and it was another horror show leaving Chelsea fans covering their eyes. If Lampard will be asking the physio about Chilwell tomorrow, he might want to stop by Marina’s office and check on the status of the deal to bring in Eduoard Mendy, as Kepa threw himself front and centre of attention once again.
In trying to build slowly from the back, the Chelsea keeper seemed like he had all the time in the world as he took a touch and tried to play it forward, meanwhile Mané was sprinting to close him down, faster than Kepa thought. The Senegalese forward pressed and blocked the pass, leaving him with the easiest of finishes to make it 2-0.
Chelsea were playing for pride now and twenty minutes in to the second half they had their first significant attack, eventually getting numbers forward and working the ball to Mason Mount on the edge of the area, who’s effort went just over the crossbar as Alisson remained unworked in the Liverpool goal.
More against the run of play than anyone who wasn’t watching the game could imagine, Timo Werner amazingly won a penalty and it was all through his own work. Chasing a seemingly lost cause into the corner down the left, the German cut inside and drove into the box, passing a couple of players before being brought down by Thiago.
Captain once again in the absence of Cesar Azpilicueta, Jorginho stepped up and performed his usual hop-skip-shoot technique, however this time it provided an unfamiliar result as Alisson got down well to save the effort.
The balance of the game was so one-sided that a Chelsea goal at that moment would have been unlikely to tip the scales, but you never know what might have happened if Jorginho had converted the chance.
Liverpool continued to control the game in a calm and comfortable manner after the Chelsea penalty, without threatening Kepa’s goal much more as they seemed to settle for the two goal lead they already had.
Substitute Tammy Abraham had what was realistically Chelsea’s best and closest effort, running on to a Werner through ball and shooting across Alisson with his right foot, drawing the Liverpool keeper’s only notable save of the afternoon after 80 minutes.
With just a minute left of stoppage time, Kepa had a rare positive moment, getting down excellently to make a top save from a deflected long-range Mané strike – unfortunately for him the damage had been done.
Soon after, the referee blew his whistle and put Frank Lampard’s side out of their misery after an extremely tough afternoon.
Match Stats
Player Ratings
Concluding Thoughts
Ultimately the game was decided just before half-time when it was still 0-0. What had looked like a tight, tense game that could have gone either way, was thrown out of the window after Christensen’s red card.
Chelsea can take positives in knowing that the majority of their new signings and starting players aren’t available yet, and should have a positive impact on results when they eventually can be integrated into the team. Mané scored twice off Chelsea mistakes.
The team will be pleased that they don’t have long to dwell on the loss, with two games in the next week as the Blues face Barnsley at home in EFL Cup action on Wednesday, before travelling to West Brom on Saturday where it will be vital to get back to winning ways in the Premier League.