3️⃣ points after Liverpool punish sloppy Chelsea | OneFootball

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Dan Burke·20 September 2020

3️⃣ points after Liverpool punish sloppy Chelsea

Article image:3️⃣ points after Liverpool punish sloppy Chelsea

Premier League champions Liverpool sent out a message with a 2-0 victory away at 10-man Chelsea on Sunday.

Here’s what we made of the action at Stamford Bridge …


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Premier League champions? You’re having a laugh

Article image:3️⃣ points after Liverpool punish sloppy Chelsea

After a summer of exciting transfer activity, this was the first big test of the season for Frank Lampard’s expensively assembled side.

And it was 90 minutes which showed that they are still a long way off Liverpool’s level.

To be fair, it was an evenly matched game until Andreas Christensen was amateurishly caught out by a ball over the top just before half-time.

The Dane was rightly sent off for hauling down Sadio Mané and Liverpool bossed the game from there on in.

It was perhaps to be expected but Timo Werner and Kai Havertz haven’t really hit the ground running and Chelsea’s first shot on target of the match was Jorginho’s penalty in the 75th-minute, which Alisson Becker saved.

And what more can be said about Kepa Arrizabalaga? He’s a goalkeeper who is well out of his depth and will probably never live up to his hefty price-tag.

Lampard is well aware of this and will be hoping the signing of Edouard Mendy from Rennes will solve the Blues’ problems in that department.

He will also be hoping 35-year-old Thiago Silva has a transformative effect on Chelsea’s backline when he eventually makes his debut and on this evidence, the Brazilian will have his work cut out for him.

They’re building something exciting at Stamford Bridge, no doubt about that. But it’s going to take time and they won’t be in contention for the title this season.


Liverpool have the best squad in the league

Article image:3️⃣ points after Liverpool punish sloppy Chelsea

You may have thought Liverpool were going to drop off this season. You may have been wrong.

This game might have turned out differently were it not for the red card but Liverpool’s dominance in the second half will have been scary to watch for their title rivals.

Because with their two recent bits of transfer business, they suddenly have a better squad than even Manchester City.

They have the best goalkeeper in the world, the two best full-backs in the world and the best centre-back in the world. We already knew this.

But with Joe Gomez and Joël Matip both out injured, Jürgen Klopp started Fabinho at centre-back and the Brazilian did not look out of place there whatsoever.

Captain Jordan Henderson went off at half-time but on came debutant Thiago Alcântara to run the midfield instead.

Gini Wijnaldum isn’t leaving, Naby Keïta could be about to have his breakthrough season, and they’ve got the best front three in world football.

And if anything were to happen to one of Liverpool’s forwards, they’ve now got the excellent Diogo Jota to fall back on.

Manchester City haven’t even kicked a ball yet this season and they’re already six-points behind Liverpool. That could have a huge psychological impact on the title race.

The reigning champions were slight favourites for the title before today. They’re heavy favourites now.


Better to be safe than sorry

Article image:3️⃣ points after Liverpool punish sloppy Chelsea

It hasn’t been the best weekend for the VAR PR department in the Premier League, but they at least ended it on a high.

The new law which means the referee’s assistants won’t raise the offside flag until the ball has gone in the net is going to take some getting used to, but it at least means we shouldn’t see any goals incorrectly chalked off for offside.

And though referee Paul Tierney really shouldn’t have needed to go to the pitchside monitor to decide that Christensen’s foul on Mané was worthy of a red card, at least justice was done in the end.

You can’t expect human referees to make the right call all the time, so don’t then moan when they use the technology available to arrive at the right decision.