Liverpool maintained their impressive start to the season with a hard-earned Premier League win over Chelsea on Sunday afternoon. Mohamed Salah opened the scoring from the spot and Curtis Jones scored the winner moments after Nicolas Jackson had equalised at the start of the second half as the Reds secured a 2-1 triumph.
The result means Arne Slot has now won 10 of his first 11 games in charge – the first new Liverpool manager to achieve such a feat and behind only Pep Guardiola in terms of reaching 10 wins in the fewest amount of games as a new boss in England.
Much of the fume around Anfield on Sunday was prompted by the erratic performance of referee John Brooks. But not all of it.
With four minutes of the first half remaining, Jackson became the latest of several Chelsea players to hit the turf suffering an apparent injury while Liverpool were in possession.
And when Ibrahima Konate subsequently booted the ball out of play to allow the visiting striker to undergo treatment, Curtis Jones fired an angry few words at his team-mate while the home crowd loudly voiced their disapproval. Steady on, people.
Half-time saw a penalty shoot-out in front of the Kop end to promote Liverpool sponsors Standard Chartered’s community engagement programme ‘Futuremakers’. But David James, who competitors had to beat between the sticks, was in no mood for charity.
Having kept out a penalty from an 11-year-old boy to jeers from the home crowd, James invited the youngster to have another go from the spot – and promptly saved with his legs.
Cue even greater boos for the former Liverpool goalkeeper whose subsequent reaction suggested he was unrepentant. “I’m proud of it,” James later said. An unexpected early life listen for the young kid in front of more than 60,000 people.
Slot warns Reds
VAR took a little while to determine whether Jackson was onside for Chelsea’s equaliser. Slot, though, knew almost instantly from having watched the first replay on a nearby monitor on the touchline.
And that’s why the Reds boss was keen to inform nearby players such as Trent Alexander-Arnold the goal was about to be given to ensure they were steeled for their response.
Given Liverpool scored their winner three minutes later, it proved to be a more than worthwhile intervention.
