Heading into the October worldwide break, Arne Slot had been at pains to repeatedly level out that his Liverpool aspect’s place on the Premier League summit owed, partly, to a sort opening fixture record.

The go to of Chelsea on Sunday night represented a stern check for the season’s early pace-setters. They handed with flying colors. The 2-1 victory was not with out its nervy moments, as Slot conceded post-game: “In an excellent world we’d have fully outplayed them however that was undoubtedly not the case.”

However Liverpool deservedly eked out three factors. Listed below are the important thing takeaways from the membership’s tenth win of the season already.

Even within the desires he might have had whereas sleeping his spare room on Saturday evening, Curtis Jones might scarcely have conjured a extra spectacular particular person show. The brand new first-time father, who had relocated in quest of some much-needed relaxation pre-game, was a one-man swarm at Anfield.

Not solely tasked with stopping Cole Palmer, arguably the stand-out participant of the season up to now, Jones additionally took it upon himself to canter ahead.

Lower than three minutes elapsed between Jones’ very important lunge to disclaim Palmer a transparent swipe at objective in Liverpool’s field and Levi Colwill’s moderately extra reckless sort out on Liverpool’s energetic midfielder inside Chelsea’s space. Mohamed Salah transformed the first-half spot kick, however was denied the possibility to take a second penalty gained by one other ahead surge from Jones following a VAR overview. The Liverpool-born 23-year-old capped off per week to recollect with a brilliantly taken end, cushioning Salah’s cross into his stride earlier than poking it past a hesitant Robert Sanchez.

“For a participant who needs to play on this crew, you have to run, you have to have power, you have to be everywhere in the pitch,” Jones acknowledged post-game. He definitely match that demanding temporary on Sunday.

This was a show of extra grit than glitz for Liverpool. The hosts solely had 9 photographs – they have not recorded a decrease tally in a top-flight recreation since drawing 1-1 with Manchester Metropolis on the Etihad in November 2023.

Within the absence of an amazing quantity of attacking ingenuity, Slot’s aspect needed to depend upon an more and more spectacular defensive rearguard. “We needed to combat actually laborious to get this one over the road,” the Dutch coach beamed. “We defended so sturdy via the entire crew. There was unbelievable work charge.”

Jurgen Klopp revelled in his crew’s psychological fortitude, infamously hailing them as “mentality monsters”. The swift response to Nicolas Jackson’s second-half equaliser – one in every of solely two photographs on track which Chelsea might boast – and the composed conclusion to a tricky contest confirmed that the psychological resilience did not depart Anfield with Klopp in the summertime.

In the summertime of 2023, Slot in contrast himself to Manchester Metropolis’s Pep Guardiola. “He’s a management freak similar to me.” The Dutch coach has routinely cited possession-based sides, together with the Catalan’s champions, as the instance for his personal groups, however he confirmed a willingness to adapt to the calls for of every opponent on Sunday.

Liverpool conceded possession however not place. Many managers of the fashionable period would have their ego bruised by boasting simply 42% of the ball in entrance of their dwelling crowd, but Slot used this to his benefit. By permitting Chelsea to imagine management, the Reds have been perennially poised to spring ahead on the counter, searing via their muddled guests in transition.

That willingness to go from again to entrance as shortly as probably bought Tosin Adarabioyo in a tangle six minutes into the competition. The Chelsea defender was maybe lucky to flee with only a yellow card after tugging Diogo Jota to the turf. It was not the final second of alarm for Chelsea.

Ryan Gravenberch’s adaptation to life in a brand new defensively minded position at Liverpool has been sensational. Beforehand shackled to the ultimate third throughout his greatest time at Ajax, the towering 22-year-old has thrived from the bottom of Liverpool’s midfield.

Nevertheless, Gravenberch had been helped via the opening two months of the season by having Alexis Mac Allister beside him. A fiercely clever participant who Klopp as soon as hailed as “a soccer physician”, the Argentine World Cup winner was all the time there to coax and cajole Gravenberch.

For the primary time this season, the Dutch midfielder began with out his on-pitch tutor. Mac Allister wasn’t missed. Up in opposition to a midfield which value virtually £200m, Gravenberch delivered one other sensible mix of distribution and drive whereas plugging the gaps which Jones vacated.

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