Liverpool confirmed Enzo Maresca’s suspicion that his improving Chelsea side are not yet ready to challenge the Premier League’s very best with a 2-1 victory in a lively, incident-packed game at Anfield, decided by Curtis Jones’s second-half winner.
Early season talk of the Blues as outside title contenders had always felt premature and Maresca, to his credit, had stayed level in refusing to entertain it.
Still, this was a game billed as twin acid tests for two teams who had started the strongly without yet beating much. Chelsea were undefeated in the league since losing to Manchester City on the opening day, but had not played any of last season’s top eight in that run. Liverpool were top under Arne Slot, but had beaten only Manchester United among the same crop and, well, you know.
With Arsenal losing on Saturday evening and City looking fallible in victory earlier on Sunday, this was a statement win for Slot’s side, who return to the summit and can now declare themselves true title contenders by taking something from the Emirates next weekend.
For Chelsea, though, defeat did not mean outright failure. The Blues, then under Mauricio Pochettino, were thrashed 4-1 on this ground in January and here competed hard, even if generally second-best from the moment Mo Salah’s first-half penalty gave the hosts the lead. Certainly, there was nothing in this performance to shift the feeling that a place in the top four is an achievable target.
It was a contest more enjoyable for the sheer volume of flashpoints, than for its quality. It was no game for the craftsmen: indeed, two of the country’s most talented in Trent Alexander-Arnold and Cole Palmer had barely a kick between them.
Instead, it was one for the chaos-makers. Nicolas Jackson scored Chelsea’s equaliser after half-time, while Darwin Nunez was excellent for Liverpool after coming on early as a replacement for Diogo Jota and Moises Caicedo charged around breaking up the play.
The match-winner, Jones, is subtler than all three, but he too thrives in this kind of disjointed affair, appearing almost from nowhere to nip balls off toes and probing in unconventional pockets. Ultimately, it was the Englishman’s run and finish that exposed a sleeping Chelsea backline to keep his team at the division’s head.
Among Chelsea’s chief positives was a surprise return for Reece James, who had not played a minute of competitive football this season, nor made a Premier League start in 10 months, since suffering a hamstring injury across Stanley Park at Everton.
He had resumed full training early in the international break, but there was little in Enzo Maresca’s pre-match talk of careful management to suggest he would be thrown in from the start here.
Arne Slot was surely taken by surprise, too, or else might have been tempted to field the menacing Luis Diaz in direct opposition. Instead, the Colombian was not introduced until James had already been replaced, his comeback lasting around an hour, including a lengthy period of first-half stoppage time.
In midfield, Maresca opted for the engine of Romeo Lavia ahead of Enzo Fernandez alongside Caicedo and as a result teased Liverpool with the midfield pairing they had tried to sign. There was no need for envious glances here, though, with the homegrown Jones outstanding for the home side.
Jones won the spot-kick from which Salah scored the opener and was awarded another when upended by Robert Sanchez, only for VAR to reverse the call.
It was a strange incident to judge, the decision probably correct but the optics not quite tallying as Jones found himself upside down in mid-air after the goalkeeper had managed a small but significant touch on the ball. Strange, too, was the lack of Chelsea protest earlier in the half, when Jadon Sancho appeared to be tripped in the box by Alexander-Arnold.
Referee John Brooks had major decisions coming at him from the moment Tosin Adarabioyo escaped an early red card for a halfway-line foul not dissimilar to that which had seen William Saliba sent off for Arsenal at Bournemouth the previous evening.
Levi Colwill’s proximity was his saviour, but with the Saliba example fresh, Brooks decision ignited the home atmosphere. From there, the official’s thankless task was not executed brilliantly.
This was an intense, hectic affair, welcome qualities in what was once one of the Premier League’s more full-bodied rivalries.
Chelsea’s decline in recent seasons has taken the edge off it, but here they drew level within minutes of the restart. Jackson’s run was smart, kept onside by the stretch of Virgil van Dijk, and his finish cool under pressure from the chasing Andy Robertson.
Parity, though, lasted just three minutes before Jones came from deep unchecked by James and unseen by Tosin to jam home from Salah’s terrific cross. It was textbook stuff, a case of switching off once and being ruthlessly punished by the quality of a supreme side.
Maresca has never shied from the fact that his young, albeit freakishly expensive, team are not one of those just yet.
