This turned out to be one of the standout games of the Premier League so far — both from an entertainment and tactical perspective. It was tight from start to finish and both managers smiling at the final whistle was testament to the beauty of the match.

Passing maps thanks to 11tegen11 instead of lineups so you can get an idea of systems, not just formations.

Chelsea passing game against Liverpool press

The first half was typical of Chelsea’s play so far this season. The lopsided structure that Sarri implemented at Napoli is now at the heart of how the Londoners play. The focus is on combinations down the left hand side which can be achieved through the creations of situational triangles or diamonds. David Luiz progresses the ball into this area of the pitch where Kovačić, Marcos Alonso and Eden Hazard dynamically combine, supported by Jorginho. As shown by less connections on the passing map, Chelsea’s combination play was not up to their usual standards, especially with regards to vertical layoffs.

The rest of the team’s setup is just as interesting. Giroud sits on the shoulder, often occupying both centre-backs and giving the potential for a free man elsewhere. Willian also plays quite high and can use his pace to exploit space on the far side (more on this later). Kante can cover the players to his left and is the perfect complement to the left sided focus, while still participating in the attack, bringing out aspects of his game that were seldom seen under Conte. Azpilicueta, who played as a centre-back under Conte, sits deeper at right-back with a similarly balancing role.

This asymmetrical structure gives rise to a number of playing patterns which can be exemplified by Chelsea’s two biggest chances of the half. The first involved the aforementioned pace of Willian. As David Luiz took the ball it was generally expected that he would initiate a play down the left hand side, but occasionally he tried to catch Liverpool by surprise by playing a long diagonal in an attempt to slip Willian in behind. This caught the away team completely off guard the first time and if it weren’t for a superb save by Alisson, Chelsea would’ve scored. Robertson was alive to the threat from then on, but you can see from the dynamism on the passing map that Willian was constantly trying to create problems with his movement.

The second big chance resulted in the opening goal. It basically started with tight combinations in the middle of the pitch (the left sided triangles had shifted slightly infield) that drew Alexander-Arnold out of position before Hazard was played through in behind the right-back, finishing fantastically. It wasn’t necessarily Alexander-Arnold’s fault; a player stepping out of the defensive line is not fatal in a cohesive unit. So it raises the question of why cover was not immediately on hand.

Liverpool pressed in their usual 4-1-4-1 with Firmino pressing the centre-backs while trying to cut passing lanes into Jorginho. The wingers would situationally step out to press the full-backs (or the centre-backs if they had fanned wide during buildup), also attempting to block central progression. Both Liverpool full-backs and the midfield trio were not afraid to step out onto a nearby player or push to compact space around the ball. This created a defensive unit that was generally quite solid (excluding the mistakes already mentioned). There were also some aspects of the system that had ripple on affects into the offensive transition.

Because Firmino is so eager to help out defensively, he would often cut across to backward press as Chelsea attacked down either flank. This prompted a position change as Salah came centrally. If Liverpool subsequently won the ball in these circumstances Salah would sometimes peel off between the centre-backs to try and get in behind like a traditional centre-forward poacher. This situational central berth would sometimes last longer into the offensive phases where Firmino could make dynamic runs and clever passes to open space for the Egyptian. Despite Salah finding spaces on the flank on occasion, as one would expect given Marcos Alonso’s attacking tendencies, Liverpool’s best chances of the half came from Salah’s central exploits.

Second half: Chelsea park the bus… kind of

Despite Chelsea’s new possession based style of play, they were happy to sit back and defend a lead. Liverpool saw a lot of the ball in the second half during which we saw some of their own positional principles coming through. As has become normal for the reds, the outside central midfielders played balancing roles. If a full-back pushed up too high and there was risk of a counter, they would drop to the side of the centre-backs, simultaneously supporting ball circulation. On the other hand, if a full-back drifted inside, then a midfielder would move out to become a situational wide player. Henderson played as a pivote and sprayed passes out from in front of Van Dijk and Gomez.

I’ve written in a previous article about how Liverpool’s attacking midfielders can be a crucial component of their attack by creating a spatial relationship with the front three. We saw this at times with Wijnaldum, but generally the midfield focused on balancing the movements of others.

Despite the subtitle, Chelsea applied good pressure and remained horizontally compact around the ball so that line breaking passes were difficult. They defended in what was in theory a 4-5-1, but there was often at least one player from the line of five stepping out to join Giroud in the press and as the home side dropped into a deeper block, Hazard tended to stay high up the pitch, so it was more of a 4-4-2. This meant there was almost always an outlet to start a counter-attack, with Hazard particularly threatening in transitions

Liverpool generally found themselves smothered by Chelsea’s good defensive shifting. Until Keita came on to inject some press resistance, no one really looked that comfortable when it came to progressing play. They probably did create enough chances to win though, with a clever cross behind the high line from Robertson a good example. And in the end they got a point, thanks to a stunning strike from Daniel Sturridge.

Footnotes on some key players

Eden Hazard is shaping up to be one of the best players in the world at the moment. His new flexible role under Sarri is doing wonders for him. He can look to receive the ball between the lines, drop to support combination play, drift centrally to pose questions to the defence or slip in behind with intelligent runs. Adding to this, he can dribble to beat three or four players from just about any position. Not only is this another weapon in Chelsea’s Arsenal, but it inevitably drags players towards him and opens space for others. With the Belgian finally playing in a system that affords him the freedom he needs to flourish, the sky seems the limit for what could possibly be the Premier League’s greatest talent.

Alisson Becker is proving to be similarly crucial for Liverpool, but in a different way. He is a great shot stopper from a classical perspective but also proactive and anticipative in a way that separates him from any keepers Liverpool have had in the past. He is comfortable in possession (that slip-up against Leicester has if anything honed his skills by improving his judgement), and knows when and how to come off his line — as shown by his two top drawer 1v1 saves against Chelsea. His save against Hazard in the second half showed good knowledge of the player in front of him. Despite it being virtually a 1v1, Alisson stayed on the edge of the six yard box, closing the angle as much as he could, knowing that if he dived in there was a big chance of getting chipped. Then once Hazard committed to a low drive, he immediately closed the shot down and smothered it.

Conclusion: can either team challenge City for the title?

The above graphic from Michael Caley shows that Chelsea were slightly ahead on the xG in this game but it was a close match that showed the quality of both teams. The question is, can either of them pose a serious threat to Manchester City?

According to Understat, City have a net xG or expected goal difference (xG – xGA) of 17.84 while nearest rivals Liverpool are on 11.4. Chelsea are on 5.03. These values aren’t much to go by this early in the season, but we can already see that Man City are still utterly dominant against almost everyone they face. Liverpool and Chelsea will have to really fight to stay with them, but they have shown themselves to be genuine top teams and results in football are somewhat random, even across a 38 game league season. In other words: anything could happen.