After being reduced to ten men following Andreas Christensen’s red card on the stroke of half time, Chelsea were defeated 2-0 by current Premier League title holders Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The Blues struggled to hit top form throughout the clash, managing to take just five shots throughout the 90 minutes. The visitors, on the other hand, made 18 attempts on the Chelsea goal and dominated the run of play with 62% ball possession.
While the Blues were able to keep the Liverpool attackers at bay for the duration of the first half, the Reds hit the ground running after the half time break, with Sadio Mane scoring two goals within five minutes of each other. Without new arrivals Ben Chilwell and Thiago Silva, as well as key forward Christian Pulisic, the Blues were unable to strike up any effective build-up plays.
“It’s always a tough game here. I liked the first half. It was two teams that wanted to play, create, defend, and make things happen,” explained Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp during the post-match conference.
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard expressed his own disappointment with the game’s outcome, stating “The red card changes the face of the game. I think it could be given or not. I was perhaps surprised it was given as a yellow first. If it was given as a red straight away, you continue with that.”
