Liverpool showed their intent on a Friday night ending Chelsea’s unbeaten run in the Premier League 2016-17 season. Two goals by Dejan Lovren and captain Jordan Henderson sealed Liverpool’s victory over the Blues at the Stamford Bridge.
Liverpool were keen to build on the 4-1 thrashing of champions Leicester City at Anfield last weekend and they over-ran Chelsea to take control by half-time through Dejan Lovren’s close range finish and captain Jordan Henderson’s spectacular 25-yard strike.
Chelsea, with £32m defender David Luiz making his first appearance since returning to Chelsea from Paris St-Germain as replacement for the injured John Terry, pulled one back through Diego Costa but their laboured performance deserved nothing from this game.
Liverpool, more energetic and inventive, was 2-0 up in about half an hour and controlled proceedings for an hour. Not until Diego Costa put Chelsea on the scoreboard did the match begin to feel competitive.
But not for long, as Liverpool weathered Chelsea briefly coming out of its slumber, and returned to smothering the Blues.
Only Manchester City and Everton remain unbeaten in the league. Chelsea dropped to third and Liverpool rose to fourth.
“It’s a big victory, it keeps our momentum going,” captain Jordan Henderson said. “We defended excellently, and deserved the three points. It gives good confidence.”
Having already beaten last season’s league champion and runner-up, Liverpool’s third win makes the second-round loss to promoted Burnley even more confounding.
On Jurgen Klopp’s watch, Liverpool has been strong against Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, and the Manchester clubs, remaining unbeaten in six away games against them, and losing only once in 11 matches.
