It was another bossy display for the Reds as they outshined Chelsea by 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Matchday 2 of the Premier League fixture.

 

 

Two goals by Sadio Mane in four minutes gave Reds the needed three points to keep their title defense alive.

New signing Thiago Alcantara made his debut in the second half and completed more passes (75) than any Chelsea player managed in the entire match; Fabinho took Gomez’s spot, after he was reported to have suffered a minor knock before the game.

Mateo Kovacic came in for Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who drops out of the squad altogether for Frank Lampard's side.

 

 

Both sides in the opening minutes were too careful not to make any mistake for the other to captalise on.

Salah came close in the 14-minute after a ricochet from Henderson's delivery deflected kindly for him as Kepa came out. The goalkeeper was nowhere near getting there and the Egyptian looked for Firmino in the centre, but Christensen did really well to block the shot from an acute angle.

Timo Werner proved threatening with his run and had his effort to go by Fabinho blocked. The German tore away down the left and tried to turn Fabinho inside out but the Brazilian stuck to his task to take the ball off the striker.

The turning point of the game happened in the 44-minute when Christensen was shown the Red card for denying Mane a goalscoring opportunity.

 

 

Jordan Henderson's long ball found the Senegalese free of the last defender and the Danish embraced the foward from the back. Center referee Tierney showed the yellow but after VAR review, he flashed the Red walked out the Chelsea defender from the game.

 

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Thiago was brought in for Henderson, with Lampard replacing Havertz with Tomori.

The breakthrough happened in the 50-minute with the involvement of the front three, engineered by Thiago. The Spaniard directed his pass towards the right to Firmino, who played the give-and-go with Salah, got to the byline and stood up a cross for Sadio Mane to head home and score his first Premier League goal of the season.

 

 

The Senegalese doubled the Reds lead after Kepa’s blunder. The keeper was kept under pressure by Tomori's pass, in an attempt to route the ball out of the box, he struck the Liverpool winger and was punished with a simple finish.

The Reds came in search of a third but Chelsea’s defence was too tough to allow another one.

The Blues were awarded a lifeline to pull a goal back; Timo Werner run across the Liverpool box and had his heels clipped by Thiago just inside it before referee Pual Tierney pointed to the spot.

 

 

Alisson stepped up, dived to the left and saved Jorginho’s kick. It was the Brazilian’s first-time miss in nine attempts for Chelsea in all competitions.

The game ended in favour of the Reds and was the 23 loss of the Blues to Liverpool, more than any other opponent.