Chelsea vs Liverpool match report: Dejan Lovren and Jordan Henderson fire Reds to hard-earned win at Stamford Bridge

Not many teams will out-run Antonio Conte’s Chelsea this season but, on this evidence, not many will finish ahead of Liverpool in the Premier League either. This was their third league win and, after putting four past both Arsenal and Leicester City, their third big scalp. They should have beaten Tottenham Hotspur too, which is why, five games in and in fourth place, they already look like a very serious team.

This was a draining game under lights, a game that took every last joule of Liverpool energy to win. They controlled most of it, including a dominant first-half performance when they made Chelsea look unusually slow, soft and unable to get a foothold in the game. It was in that first half when Liverpool scored both of their goals, one routine from Dejan Lovren, one brilliant from Jordan Henderson.

Both Liverpool goals, though, came from Chelsea defensive mistakes, from breakdowns of clearing and marking. This was partly just bad play, and the effect of the absence of John Terry in the heart of this team. But these were forced errors, things that teams do when they have been run into the ground by vigorous opposition.

This is the effect that Liverpool can have on teams. They were not at their absolute best here, without Emre Can and Roberto Firmino, the two players Klopp rates ahead of any others for their ability to put his instructions into practice. But even then Liverpool were still ferocious, just so physically strong and committed to Klopp’s plans. The first anniversary of his taking over at Liverpool is not for another few weeks, but in this league he is a relative long-termer.

One year from now Conte would surely like Chelsea to be able to play something like that, closing down the opposition, snapping into tackles and breaking forward in numbers. But this was only his fifth Premier League game, and his first defeat, since taking over. He only had two new signings, Ngolo Kante and David Luiz, on the pitch. His team cannot be expected to play proper Conte football, as played by Juventus or Italy yet. Too many teams this season they have looked like enthusiastic runners but not much more than that, unable to create too many real chances against a more unified team.

This felt from the start like a very modern game, a model of what Premier League football is like now, with enough pressing and running to exhaust anyone sat in front of a television. What was obvious very quickly was that Liverpool are better at it. They pushed up and forced Chelsea back, they kept the ball with quality and there was very little for Chelsea to do but try to rush on the break.

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Chelsea were rattled and with John Terry out injured there was no-one for their defence to cohere around. This was David Luiz’s second debut, and while he has played alongside these team-mates before, it was more than two years ago, and it showed. Chelsea got their marking completely wrong when Philippe Coutinho swung a right-footed cross into the box. Liverpool somehow had three men over at the far post, and the furthest of them, Dejan Lovren, put the ball into the net.

That goal was routine but the second was spectacular, a further reward for Liverpool’s pressure and ambition. Gary Cahill skewed a weak clearance to Jordan Henderson, 30 yards from goal. Before a blue shirt could stop him he angled a dipping shot into the far top corner for the net, above Thibaut Courtois’ hands but just under the bar.

Liverpool had the game exactly where they wanted it. at the start of the second half they were knocking the ball around so casually that their noisy fans were singing about how easy it all was. All they had to do was to defend properly, but just when they looked secure, they allowed themselves to be opened up. Nemanja Matic darted down to the by-line, skipped past Joel Matip and cut the ball back to Diego Costa, who scored his fifth goal of the season.

Suddenly the atmosphere switched and Chelsea had their moment to get back into the game. They were playing more direct, more purposeful football and within minutes Costa should have had another, but shot at Simon Mignolet.

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That, looking back, was Chelsea’s moment, and it soon started to fate. Liverpool recovered their composure, kept the ball, and Divock Origi forced Courtois to save his header well. It was only after that save, with seven minutes left, that Conte turned to his bench. He had left it unusually unused up to that point. Victor Moses, Cesc Fabregas and Pedro all came on, hoping to provide the pace and spark that had been missing from Chelsea’s play.

But it was too late for Chelsea, who had allowed Liverpool to take back control of the game. They threw the ball forward but with no success. Liverpool were tired but strong enough to hold on. They may still be a team in development, but they are a lot further progressed than Chelsea.