Chelsea and Liverpool played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge in their Premier League season opener on Sunday.
Liverpool dominated the opening minutes of the game, and after Mohamed Salah had struck the crossbar with a curling effort from the edge of the area, the Egyptian forward’s exquisite through ball was turned home by a sliding Luis Diaz.
The visitors thought they have doubled their lead, only for VAR to rule out Salah’s strike. However, their problems in the middle of the park were exposed as the half progressed, and debutant Axel Disasi stole in behind a stationary defence to level the scoreline.
There were chances to win for both teams after the interval, but the game ended in a draw which both managers Mauricio Pochettino and Jurgen Klopp would see as a fair result. On that note, here are the main three talking points from the game.
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Nicolas Jackson excites on debut
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nicolas Jackson’s performances across pre-season did give us a trailer of what to expect from him when the season begins. And, in an enthralling, end-to-end game at Stamford Bridge, he showed exactly why Chelsea signed him from Villarreal.
Jackson worked tirelessly up top, often using his pace and power to cause problems within the Liverpool backline. The Senegalese’s physicality and hold-up play through the middle were a feature throughout the game, with Liverpool’s defenders and midfielders shrugged off with ease at times. Once receiving the ball on the left in the second half, he used his burst of acceleration to drive past Ibrahima Konate and test Allison from close range. He had four shots in a lively debut at Stamford Bridge.
Jackson’s overall play should have excited the Chelsea supporters who, once the forwards gel more and the midfield becomes stronger, will get to see even more from their 22-year-old striker.
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Mauricio Pochettino looks at home
New Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino said Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool was “just the start” of the turnaround he wants to see at Stamford Bridge after a shocking last season that saw the high-spending Blues finish 12th in the league.
For much of the first half before Chelsea improved, Pochettino cut a frustrated figure on the touchline. It was too easy to play through in the opening half an hour of the game for the men in red, but after Chelsea equalised through Disasi and subsequently got on top, they went on to never really lose control of the game.
Pochettino made a few tweaks in the interval that saw the hosts dominate possession and the game for long periods. Chelsea were dynamic and strong in the middle of the park, with Enzo Fernandez running the show. And amid all the talk of incomings and outgoings, you could certainly see a team being moulded by Pochettino in his own image.
The team were applauded off at full-time as they looked forward to a more promising season under Pochettino, who looked at home in new surroundings and completely appears to have won over the fans that were skeptical of his appointment given his past links with Spurs.
- VAR controversy
In the second half, VAR looked at a possible handball against Nicolas Jackson as the ball hit his arm after Luis Diaz had nudged on the corner kick. It opted against sending the on-field referee Anthony Taylor to the pitch-side monitor despite harrowing calls from the Liverpool players.
As Jackson was jumping, he had his arm close to his body, and Diaz’s flick from Szoboszlai’s corner from the left-hand side meant there was very little time to react to the movement. Both of the Chelsea forward’s arms were in the same position, but had Anthony Taylor awarded the penalty, then it would have certainly stood. However, Darren England—the VAR in charge of the game—had enough reservations not to intervene in this situation.
At first glance, it looked like a clear penalty and the VAR would intervene, but upon second viewing, you could feel why Taylor was not requested to go to the pitch-side monitor. Nonetheless, it proved a controversial decision, and one that Klopp, Liverpool players and fans will feel hard done by as that goal could have potentially given them three points in west London.
