Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool: Disasi debut strike earns Pochettino’s Blues point after Diaz goal

Chelsea came from behind to draw 1-1 as they took on Liverpool in the Premier league at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening.

Mauricio Pochettino’s Blues started their Premier League campaign by taking on Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and produced a fascinating spectacle.

The visitors were out the gates quickest, with Luis Diaz firing them in front after a delightful pass from Mohammed Salah picked him out at the back post.

Chelsea took a while to respond, but in the first half they did tie the contest, new signing Axel Disasi tapped home and the hosts nearly had a second moments later, but Ben Chilwell’s goal was ruled out for offside.

The sides went into the half-time break level, and in the second 45 Chelsea were the team on top, but there were no late goals to split the two.

As well as Pochettino managing his first competitive game as Chelsea boss in this contest, first Premier League starts for the Blues were handed to Robert Sanchez, Disasi, Levi Colwill and Nicolas Jackson.

The hosts got things underway in west London, but it was the visitors who displayed the early pressure and fashioned the first opening, Liverpool’s new addition in midfield, Dominik Szoboszlai, went on a crafty run and found Diogo Jota, but the Portuguese forward sliced his effort wide.

Following this, the two teams started to exchange chances, Enzo Fernandez saw a strike blocked which led to a sharp counter-attack from the visitors, former Chelsea player, Salah, received the ball from Cody Gakpo on the edge of the area and rattled the crossbar with a shot from his weaker right foot.

Despite the warning signs from Liverpool’s early chances, the Blues did not wake up, 18 minutes into proceedings, they were punished, Salah crossed to Diaz who fired Klopp’s side into the lead with a composed finish.

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Moments after the opener, there were appeals for a penalty, while there was contact from Ibrahima Konate on Chilwell, it was minimal and Anthony Taylor opted not to point towards the spot.

More opportunities continued to fall for the travelling Liverpool, with Chelsea short-handed at the back, it looked as though Egyptian winger Salah was going to double the lead in the 25th minute, but Thiago Silva made a superb block to deny him.

Salah had yet another chance just a few minutes after, although he found the net this time, a VAR review saw the goal chalked off and kept the Blues in the contest.

Things were beginning to look rather dire for the home side, the first half was drawing to a close and they had little to show for it, but a half cleared corner was headed back towards goal by Chilwell and new signing Disasi turned the ball in to tie up the contest.

With the momentum switching in favour of Chelsea, Chilwell was once again involved going forward, this time he was the man sent through on goal, and although he coolly dispatched of the chance by rounding Alisson, the goal was disallowed and the west Londoners were denied their first lead of the contest.

The Blues went close once again before the break, a wonderful delivery from James picked out Jackson, but the Senegalese forward blasted over.

After six minutes of added time, an action-packed first half came to a close.

As the second half began, Chelsea wanted to continue from where they had left off in the first 45, but it was instead Liverpool who were first to come close to altering the score-line, a curling effort from distance from Virgil Van Dijk soared just over the bar.

There were more worries for the hosts after a header from a corner struck the hand of Jackson in the box, but the forward was not punished after a VAR check.

While the game started to fizzle out slightly in the second half, with the pace decreasing, the Blues had a lot of control over the contest. In the 71st minute, Jackson broke through and charged towards goal, his strike was well smothered by Alisson though.

In the 76th minute, Pochettino looked to his bench for the first time, Malo Gusto replaced James to make his Chelsea debut. Mykhailo Mudryk and Ian Maatsen were introduced moments afterwards.

The Blues continued to search for a winner, but there was no late goal to split the two teams.

Chelsea will turn their attention now to their next Premier League contest next weekend against West Ham United.