The teams come into the clash level on points but much lower down the Premier League table than they would have expected at the start of the season. Graham Potter and Jurgen Klopp find themselves 10 points off the pace in earning a spot for next season’s Champions League.
The Blues boss will be hoping that he has started to turn around Chelsea’s fortunes after a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace stopped a run of defeats with debutant Benoit Badiashile impressing in his first outing while Mykhailo Mudryk was presented to supporters and has since trained following his £62million move.
Chelsea loanee Levi Colwill helped Brighton defeat Liverpool 3-0 in their last Premier League outing, though Harvey Elliott’s strike was enough to earn FA Cup progression against Wolves for the Reds.
All four of the clubs’ meetings last term ended in a draw after 90 minutes, Liverpool prevailing in two penalty shootouts in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup finals. The west London side will be hoping to earn a degree of revenge while also recording the first win of the season against a team above them in the table.
Chelsea looked to have made the dream start to their match against Liverpool on Saturday afternoon, but VAR spoiled the party, ruling Kai Havertz’s early goal out.
Just three minutes into the game at Anfield, the German poked in a rebound after Thiago Silva’s effort hit the post, but after being initially given, the goal was disallowed.
Here’s why VAR made that call.
Why was Kai Havertz’s goal disallowed?
Chelsea made a strong start to the game, winning a corner after two minutes, and Liverpool didn’t deal with it well.
Conor Gallagher sent the ball in from the left and after a bit of a scramble, it fell to Silva six yards from goal; the Brazilian was then able to get an effort away but hit the post when he really should have scored.
The rebound then ended up at the feet of Havertz and the forward made no mistake, poking it into the back of the net with his right foot to seemingly give his team the lead.
Initially, there didn’t look to be anything wrong with the goal, but a lengthy VAR check ultimately proved otherwise.
When Silva took his shot, Havertz’s left foot was actually ever so slightly in front of it, and with him comfortably ahead of every outfield Liverpool player too, he was therefore in an offside position.
It was an offside of the narrowest margins that wouldn’t have been picked up without VAR, but it was ultimately the correct decision from the officials.
