First-half goals from Dejan Lovren and Jordan Henderson were enough to hand Liverpool a 2-1 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge early on Saturday IST. Apart from a few minutes in the opening exchanges, Antonio Conte's men were barely in the game in the first half. The home side came back strongly in the second half and got a goal back through Diego Costa, but the Reds put in a solid defensive shift in the final exchanges to hand Chelsea their first defeat of the season. The win boosted Liverpool to fourth in the table, while Chelsea dropped one place to third behind Everton on goal difference.
Chelsea saw a lot of the ball in the first five minutes of the game. Whenever a player had the ball at his feet, there were runners getting forward with purpose. It soon fizzled out with Liverpool controlling possession in the centre of the park. Chelsea looked to be in slumber and they went behind through some wretched defending at the far post.
In the 17th minute, the mercurial Philippe Coutinho, who had replaced the injured Roberto Firminho in this game, dinked a precise cross to the unmarked Lovren. There were as many as three Liverpool players vying for the ball, completely unmarked, and the Croatian's half-volley went past the despairing dive of Thibaut Courtois.
Chelsea continued to be passive and were punished in the 36th minute of the game yet again. Liverpool skipper, Henderson, chanced his luck with a clinically struck curler from 30 yards out and the ball found its way into the top corner. David Luiz, who made his second Chelsea debut, was all at sea against Daniel Sturridge, Sadio Mane and, later, Divock Origi.
Finding themselves 0-2 down at halftime, the Blues pushed hard in the second half with N'Golo Kante working tireless in midfield. The Frenchman did have a below-par game by his standards, though. Then, in the 61st minute, Nemanja Matic displayed footwork he has seldom shown in his career to scurry into the box and deliver a low through ball, which Costa pounced on. The Spaniard scored his fifth goal of the season.
With a little under half an hour left in the game, Liverpool's lead was under threat but there was more determination shown by Jurgen Klopp's men compared to previous games. However, there was still an element of vulnerability about the Reds.
Conte waited till the 83rd minute of the game to make a triple change, as the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Pedro, and Victor Moses had very little time to create an impact. All the three substitutes looked threatening after coming on, but Chelsea could not find the equaliser before the full-time whistle.