Three things we learned as Liverpool beat Chelsa – Sadio Mane shines

Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.

After a goalless first half in which Frank Lampard’s side were reduced to ten men, the Reds had a much better second half during which Sadio Mane scored twice.

Chelsea had a chance to pull one back when they were awarded a penalty. However, Alisson saved the effort from Jorginho, making it the first time the Italian international was unable to score from the spot for the Blues in his 100th appearance for them.

Liverpool eventually managed to keep their first clean sheet at Stamford Bridge since November 2011, when they won by the same scoreline in a League Cup fixture. It was quite an impressive display from Jurgen Klopp’s side, much better than the Leeds game.

Liverpool’s next fixture is the Carabao Cup third round encounter against League One outfit Lincoln City before playing Arsenal at home.

Now, let’s take a look at five things we learned from today’s encounter at Stamford Bridge.

Fabinho impresses at centre-back

With Joe Gomez and Joel Matip both ruled out, Klopp opted to have the Brazilian defensive midfielder partnering Virgil van Dijk in central defence and he certainly didn’t disappoint.

Fabinho put in a pretty good performance at centre-back, troubling the Chelsea attackers continuously. The 26-year-old has at times played in that position for Liverpool and showed why he was a good fit there through his tactical intelligence.

Gomez’s performances lately haven’t been too good and provided he doesn’t improve, Klopp might well use Fabinho as Van Dijk’s defensive partner, especially with Thiago’s addition making the midfield stacked.

There’s a fair chance that the Brazilian won’t feature against Lincoln City but he almost certainly will start against Arsenal. It will be interesting to see where Klopp fields him in that match.