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Dejan Lovren plays down Liverpool’s title ambitions

Jordan Henderson scored a goal-of-the-season contender as Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-1 on Friday Night Football at Stamford Bridge. We stopped playing how we needed at some points and Chelsea got back into it.

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“We had this one free-kick in a hard position, but all the rest was really good defending”.

“We must feel the danger in every single moment of the game, if we want to win and think like a great team”.

“We are a team that sometimes needs more time to settle”.

The hosts did manage to pull a goal back through Diego Costa in the second half, but they were clearly outplayed by a robust Liverpool side. “We controlled our football”.

Chelsea would have gone top with victory, but instead Conte tasted defeat for the first time in his fledgling tenure as his side dropped points again following last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Swansea City.

The English midfielder struck a sublime looping effort from 25 yards out which eluded the outstretched hands of Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and nestled into the back of the net.

Conte, previously unbeaten as Chelsea manager, was unable to confirm whether Terry will return for Tuesday’s League Cup tie at Leicester City. In the second half it was a bit more hard.

“It’s important to understand that every game is tough and we mustn’t forget last season”.

But after a 2-2 draw with Swansea was backed up by an insipid display at home in a 2-1 loss to Liverpool, the Italian manager’s warning was clear and bleak: change, or past year won’t be an aberration.

The biggest criticism of Klopp and Liverpool last season was the inability to string a run of positive results together, so their win in London proves they are well on their way to correcting that fault.

Liverpool did everything right in Friday’s encounter, harrying Chelsea right from the start and closing down fiercely, forcing Matic and Kante further down the pitch. “The first after a free-kick they took very quickly, the second after a throw-in and then a great goal from long distance”.

“Harry Kane will score goals and it’s more a collective issue than an individual one”.

“I’m really not interested”, he told a reporter in the Stamford Bridge press conference room when asked about Liverpool’s title prospects.

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“The second half was a bit better, we scored and had some pressure but I don’t think we had a big chance”.

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