Enzo Fernandez may have cost £106m, but he put on an opening day display that was worthy of every penny for Chelsea in their 1-1 draw with Liverpool. It was a battling performance from this new look Chelsea side under Mauricio Pochettino, who had the better of the second half and could have won it had they been more clinical.
The lack of defensive midfielders on both sides, with Moises Caicedo at the centre of a transfer tussle between the giants, led to an end-to-end encounter in which Fernandez starred. The World Cup winners showed immense quality on the ball, tearing Liverpool’s attacking looking trio of Cody Gakpo, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai apart at ease.
But Liverpool’s midfield did give them attacking poise, especially in the opening period. Salah curled one with his right onto the crossbar as Liverpool started the brighter and then the Egyptian crafted the opener. Salah found space on the right and picked out the driving run of Luis Diaz who slid in to tap home at the far post, ending a run of over 400 minutes without a goal between these two sides.
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Salah thought he’d doubled the visitors lead after latching onto a Trent Alexander-Arnold pass, but the Egyptian had just strayed offside. After a tough opening for several of the newbies, Chelsea settled. Ben Chilwell was playing extremely far forward on the left-hand side, causing Trent Alexander-Arnold issues and it was his header from a set piece that led to an equaliser.
The England wing-back headed the ball back into Axel Disasi who found the finish on his debut to drag Chelsea level. It was a moment to remember in front of the Shed End for the former Monaco man, and one that momentarily shook Liverpool. Seconds later Chilwell found himself one on one with Alisson and he rounded the keeper to tap home. However, just like Salah at the other end, he was just offside.
From that point, Chelsea had the better of things. Raheem Sterling put in arguably his best performance in a royal blue shirt, looking once again like the player we saw at Manchester City rather than the shadow we saw last term. Chilwell could have had another when he was denied by Alisson and Jackson saw his effort saved as the Brazilian keeper was kept bust in the capital.
One flare point came when Salah was furious to be withdrawn with 15 minutes to go, ripping off his hand wraps in disgrace. He got the cold shoulder from his manager but in his place came Ben Doak, as well as Harvey Elliott, and both youngsters gave the visitors extra vigour.
Both sides had a chance to win it in added time, as Darwin Nunez’s effort deflected wide, before Ian Maatsen missed an opportunity late on for the hosts. But in the end, the new Chelsea regime under Pochettino ends in a draw. Liverpool’s new-look midfield still needs extra work, while with Enzo Fernandez at the heart of his team, Chelsea are looking like a force to be reckoned with once again.
