Liverpool took a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute, when defender Dejan Lovren posted his first-ever Premier League goal with the Reds, redirecting Philippe Coutinho’s cross.
Advertisement
Diego Costa’s second-half effort proved to be nothing more than a consolation, as the Reds saw the game out in impressive fashion.
And speaking after Friday’s game, Lovren said that the boss’ strategy for these heavyweight clashes is something that he and his teammates are comfortable with.
“The first goal was a set-piece that they took quick, everybody ran to the first ball and they ran to the second ball, put a good cross in and it was a good goal”.
“The beginning was brilliant from my side and we played football that was really nice to watch”. Chelsea will be relying on their in-form striker Diego Costa, who has already scored five league goals in the campaign, to deliver against the Premier League defending champions. Whilst Jurgen Klopp was more than thrilled with his team’s victory, he refused to get too much ahead of himself.
“We must feel the danger in every single moment of the game if we want to win, if we want to think like a great team”. We never thought about anything else other than playing our football. If not for a purple patch in the second half, the score would have been a disastrous result. Under their new manager though, Chelsea had a ideal start to their campaign before playing out a draw against Southampton and losing to Liverpool 2-1 at home.
This afternoon there were really hard decisions to make with Roberto [Firmino] – a very good player and it was only a little issue, but I had to make the decision, in the end, to say it was not possible [for him to play], Klopp confirmed after the win over Chelsea. “We know this, we must work and keep our concentration”.
The former Italy national team manager waited until late in the game to make three substitutions.
Advertisement
“Liverpool controlled the game in the first half with a lot of possession, changing position”, he told Chelsea TV.
