It says a lot about a historic rivalry that Chelsea and Liverpool were neither here nor there following their confidence lacking 0-0 draw at Anfield on Saturday. Both teams were well short of their full pomp and Jurgen Klopp also went with a mixture of youth and experience.
It's a sign of the times that Graham Potter had a teenager in his midfield but also 31-year-old Jorginho. It was a game in which a point is probably one gained, especially during the plight of the two sets of teams. It also feels like a chance missed, as there won't be many less pressurised games at Anfield for Potter and his men.
All being said and done, four points from a trip to Liverpool and a match against Crystal Palace is what Chelsea will have wanted before an effective two-week break. There is now time to dip back into the market for one final flurry on players whilst also bedding in the newcomers.
READ MORE: Four things learned as Graham Potter proved right about Mykhailo Mudryk in Liverpool vs Chelsea
Things have calmed down at Stamford Bridge this week with the return to training for some injured stars and the sun is shining a little bit brighter at SW6. The cold afternoon at Anfield had the same, becalmed atmosphere - maybe a little too much.
Here's how the national media reacted to the game.
Jack Otway writes: "Chelsea managed to hold Liverpool to a goalless draw at Anfield in a major boost for Graham Potter’s side. It wasn’t a classic on Merseyside, with the contest summing up how far both teams have fallen.
"Plenty has been said and written about Chelsea in the wake of their decision to spend big on Mykhaylo Mudryk, who had previously looked set for Arsenal. But while he’s clearly a diamond in the rough, his cameo at Anfield suggests Potter would be wise to make him a certain starter.
"Mudryk wasted no time getting used to life in the Premier League, tackling James Milner before causing the Liverpool star all sorts of problems. And he came close to opening the scoring, too, only for his effort to hit the side of the net.
"Mudryk was also unlucky not to score after that, too. He still has much to learn but the 22-year-old, in one of the toughest grounds in the country, certainly lived up to the hype."
Andy Hunter writes: "The 1,000th game of Jurgen Klopp’s managerial career will not be remembered with fondness, if it is remembered at all.
"I heard Arsene Wenger lost his 1,000th game 6-0 so I’m really happy that didn’t happen,” the Liverpool manager said. Klopp was determined to accentuate the positives despite his team, and Chelsea, illustrating why Champions League qualification may be beyond them.
"A flat goalless draw at a freezing Anfield did nothing to validate talk of a revival from either Klopp or Graham Potter, although both seized on any crumbs of encouragement they could find. For Chelsea, whose run of six Premier League away games without a win is their worst in over seven years, they came in an impressive second half display from new £88m signing Mykhailo Mudryk and another imperious defensive performance from 38-year-old Thiago Silva.
For Liverpool, who remain without a league win in 2023, it was a second successive clean sheet and the return to fitness of Darwin Nunez. Slim pickings indeed.
Sam Wallace writes: "So much has changed for Mykhailo Mudryk in the two months since he last played a game, although through leaving behind a Ukraine still at war, and then finding himself at the centre of a bitter transfer battle, some things stay reassuringly the same.
"The Premier League’s latest curiosity might be a few games off full match fitness, but he has not forgotten his way around a full-back. For the past month Mudryk has been largely symbolic – the measure of the ambition of two old London rivals: Arsenal seeking to restore themselves as the destination club, Chelsea determined to hang on to that prize.
"Mudryk represented the January transfer hopes and dreams of this relentlessly acquisitive league and then finally here, at last, was the man himself: a fleet-footed, £88 million goalscoring winger who looked immediately at home."
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