Result: Chelsea 0-2 Liverpool
Date: 20 September 2020
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Champions Liverpool sent out a warning to their title contenders with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening.
Kai Havertz and Timo Werner started for Chelsea, while Thiago Alcantara was named on the bench for Liverpool.
Liverpool were dominating possession at Chelsea's home and in the 11th minute, Georginio Wijnaldum curled wide of the target.
Shortly after the half-hour mark, Chelsea had their first decent attempt of the match. Ngo'lo Kante got forward and he nodded the ball to Werner. The German sped past Fabinho and lined up a left-footed strike from the edge of the box that crept wide of the right post
Chelsea centre-back Andreas Christensen was sent off right on the stroke of half-time for bringing down Mane as the last man.
Liverpool manager brought Thiago Alcantara on for an injured Jordan Henderson at half-time, while Havertz was sacrificed for Fikayo Tomori, who was introduced to shore up the defence.
Jurgen Klopp's side capitalised on their numerical advantage five minutes after the interval. Mane and Mohamed Salah worked a sublime one-two in the inside-right channel. The Brazilian sent a good cross towards the penalty spot for Mane to attack. He got there ahead of James to convert, directing it away from Kepa into the left corner of the net.
And soon afterwards, Kepa was at fault for a poor mistake when he needlessly passed the ball straight to Mane, who tapped in to an empty net as the champions doubled their lead.
Kepa had to save with his legs shortly afterwards to deny Georginio Wijnaldum, who was played in by
The Blues had a chance to get themselves back in to the tie when Werner went on a brilliant individual run before being illegally halted by Thiago in the box. Jorginho stepped up but Alisson guessed correctly to dive down to his left to make the save.
Alisson produced another good save down to his left soon afterwards; this time to thwart Tammy Abraham, who had opened up his body well and showed good technique in curling the ball towards the far corner.
Mane almost grabbed a hat-trick when he lined up a drive on his left foot from 25 yards that took a deflection off Tomori. Kepa did well to react and got down to his right to palm it wide of the post.
