The momentum of Antonio Conte’s team is checked by their first defeat of the season, while Liverpool claimed their seventh point from three of their most hard trips to London. First-half goals from Dejan Lovren and Jordan Henderson, the latter’s strike a superb dipping effort from distance, proved enough for Friday’s visitors to Stamford Bridge, with Diego Costa’s subsequent response proving in vain for Chelsea.
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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was a man on a mission last night. Very lively, very flexible.
If Luiz was not responsible for either Liverpool goal, his solid but unspectacular display did not exactly show Chelsea fans what they have been missing, with the occasional wayward pass. David Luiz was back at the Bridge and he replaced the injured John Terry, who is struggling with a foot injury.
A free kick found its way to Philippe Coutinho and his deep cross found four Liverpool players unmarked at the far post, with Lovren applying a cool side-footed finish past Courtois.
‘We needed a lifetime goal from Jordan Henderson – 2-0 well deserved.
Liverpool’s performance on Friday was notable for its intensity, with midfielders Sadio Mane, Adam Lallana, Georginio Wijnaldum and Henderson helping to prevent Chelsea gaining a foothold in the game. “We must feel the danger in every single moment of the game, if we want to win and think like a great team”.
“We paid a lot”. Liverpool, more energetic and inventive, was 2-0 up in about half an hour and controlled proceedings for an hour. “We played spectacular football against Arsenal, really good organised football against Tottenham and tonight was a kind of mixture of these two games”.
Though Lovren’s side-footed volley off of a set piece was the result of some horrendous marking from the Chelsea defense, the Croatian still did well to exploit that space left open to him and hit the back of the net for Liverpool’s first goal on the night.
“I don’t want to repeat a bad season like past year”, he said. So often this season Chelsea scored in the last few seconds with a direct style. The pre-season will have made all the difference for the players as they will have got to grips with the demands of their charismatic manager.
“At this level it is important to pay attention to every detail if you want to win”.
Yet it was Liverpool who came closest to scoring the game’s fourth goal when Divock Origi’s header was kept out by Thibaut Courtois. However, the dominant performance from Jürgen Klopp’s men and the lacklustre showing from Chelsea has made it an even tougher task to predict the victor of the #Premier League.
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