After claiming a haphazard victory over Leeds in the opening game of their title defence, Liverpool headed down to West London to face Chelsea, who spent big in the summer and won against Graham Potter’s Brighton in their first match of the season.
Jurgen Klopp made only one change to his usual 4-3-3 formation, bringing in Fabinho at centre-back due to injuries to Joe Gomez and Joel Matip.
Frank Lampard matched him, starting new signing Kai Havertz in the centre of his frontline and Timo Werner wide left.
When playing out, Chelsea adopted the same structure as they did last season against Liverpool. With Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane blocking the passes out to the full-backs and staying close to the centre-backs and Roberto Firmino blocking the pass into Jorginho, they would have one of the other midfielders, most often Mateo Kovacic, drop in alongside Jorginho. Liverpool would push Naby Keita or Jordan Henderson up to stop Chelsea from having a free man to play out and, while this had left their defence exposed in March, it worked this time around: Chelsea were hitting long balls forward but Havertz’s ability as a target man is nowhere near that of Olivier Giroud’s, so Liverpool were simply reclaiming possession each time Chelsea kicked forward.
Chelsea’s main attacking strategy seemed to be trying to get the ball out to Marcos Alonso on the left to bait Trent Alexander-Arnold into closing the Spaniard down, leaving space for Werner to attacker in behind him. Chelsea were struggling to even get the ball to Alonso though, limiting these opportunities to just a handful. Although Werner’s pace looked threatening, Fabinho dealt with each of these moments well.
Largely unable to attack, Chelsea spent the majority of the first half sat back defending in a 4-5-1 shape. This offered them enough defensive width to be able to get out quickly to Liverpool’s dangerous full-backs, but also enough bodies in the middle to keep compact and stop combinations through the centre. Liverpool looked in full control but their only really dangerous chance had come from them snatching the ball back on the edge of the area, causing Kepa Arrizabalaga to rush out to leave an open goal, rather than any build-up play.
However, on the stroke of half-time, Henderson played a long ball in behind for Mane to chase and the Senegalese was dragged to the floor by Andreas Christensen. The Dane’s challenge was hardly subtle – sticking his arm around Mane’s neck rather than going shoulder-to-shoulder – and as Mane was likely to get to the ball before Arrizabalaga rushing out, Christensen was sent off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Liverpool had already been in full control of the game and the sending off simply opened up more space for them to utilise as Chelsea had less men to cover the pitch. Havertz was taken off and replaced by Fikayo Tomori, leaving Chelsea in a sort of 4-3-2/4-4-1 shape, with Werner alternating between protecting the left flank and trying to offer Mason Mount some support.
It didn’t take Liverpool long to take full advantage – Salah and Firmino combining down the right and crossing for Mane to open the scoring – and minutes later Arrizabalaga passed straight to the onrushing Senegalese under pressure for his second.
Outplayed even before going down to ten men, the young Chelsea side looked dispirited and a comeback never seemed likely. Klopp kept Liverpool supporters fully engaged by giving new signing Thiago Alcantara his debut at the base of the midfield, swapping out Henderson at half-time. Freed from defensive duties by Chelsea’s miserable circumstances, it was the perfect platform for the Spaniard to show off his passing.
Liverpool looked much sharper after an iffy start against Leeds, whereas the hype of Chelsea’s new signings has mellowed due to all too familiar defensive weaknesses.
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