Does Chelsea’s Defensive Performance at Liverpool Make Them Title Favourites?
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Both teams managed to continue their unbeaten start to the season as Liverpool and Chelsea played out a 1-1 draw at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday night. However, one team will come away delighted with a point and that team is Chelsea.
The Blues are not happy because they picked up a point from their title rivals, if anything, it looked as though Chelsea were going to win the match when they took the lead courtesy of a header from Kai Havertz.
However, just before half time, Reece James handled the ball on the goal line and Liverpool were awarded a penalty. Not only did Mohammed Salah score the equalising goal from the penalty spot but James was sent off, leaving Chelsea with ten men for the second half.
Stopping the Liverpool attack at Anfield with a full complement of players is tough but doing it for 45 minutes with a man down is extremely difficult and Liverpool came out in the second half as the clear favourites to take maximum points.
Thomas Tuchel made two changes at half time, which saw Havertz and N'Golo Kante withdrawn, the latter due to injury and Thiago Silva and Mateo Kovacic introduced.
Liverpool piled on the pressure early in the second half and kept the ball in play for extended periods of time, which helped push the Chelsea team back towards their own goal.
However, despite the constant menace of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Salah, Chelsea kept Liverpool to shots from outside the penalty area, which Edouard Mendy dealt with comfortably.
You only have to look at the way the Chelsea players celebrated at the end of the game to understand what a huge result it was for the club. Tuchel punched the air at the final whistle and although it was only a point, the psychological boost it will give the Chelsea players to know they can stop Liverpool from scoring at Anfield with ten men for 45 minutes is massive.
Andreas Christensen was magnificent in central defence, with both Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta defending superbly, especially when dealing with the threat of Virgil van Dijk from corners and free-kicks.
Perhaps the weakest link of the Chelsea defence was Marcos Alonso on the left and it was no coincidence that Liverpool looked more threatening down their right. Ben Chilwell is the other option at left-back and the Englishman is likely to play a significant number of games during the course of the season.
Chelsea will be delighted with their performance in the second half and it will leave them believing they can stop any team in the Premier League from scoring.
Having that belief at the back, coupled with the attacking threat of Romelu Lukaku, Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner, and Hakim Ziyech must make them close to Manchester City in terms of the favourites to win the Premier League this season.
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