As it’s often the case, the constant trickle of substitutions broke the flow of the game, which was actually a pretty decent watch in the first-half. But then, just as the game was in danger of petering out into an actual friendly, Fàbregas got himself sent off, which meant that the last 15-20 minutes were all about Liverpool laying siege to the Chelsea goal. But Chelsea held out. Woo!
- Five yellows for Liverpool, one yellow and a red for Chelsea. Friendly? In fairness, the referee was fairly bad.
- Cesc Fàbregas, not very good at tackling, just in case we had forgotten. How long will Conte persist?
- Ruben Loftus-Cheek, not a center forward. At least not yet. How long will Conte persist?
- Another good cameo from Nathaniel Chalobah. Another good 90 minutes from Ola Aina. Will Conte persist?
- Chelsea, still good at set pieces. Nice header, Gary Cahill!
- Especially in the first-half, Chelsea’s width in possession (4-2-4) and compactness in defense (4-5-1) was working quite well (minus all the inaccurate passes from the likes of Matic & Co).
- Next up for Chelsea is a game against Real Madrid on Saturday at The Big House in Ann Arbor, MI. Biggest test of the pre-season.
