Under Mauricio Pochettino, Chelsea looked much more attacking – but both teams clearly need a defensive midfielder
In the executive boxes sat the owners. For Chelsea there was Todd Boehly and, for Liverpool, John W Henry, and it would be no surprise if the topic of conversation afterwards was not just about how open and entertaining this game was but who would win the race for Moises Caicedo.
As an demonstration of the gaps that the Brighton defensive midfielder would fill, the ‘Moises Caicedo derby’ was as good as it gets. Both Chelsea and Liverpool desperately need Caicedo and as much as they showed their strengths they also revealed their weaknesses.
Rather as with the battle to sign the 21-year-old Ecuadorean Liverpool struck early but were pegged back. They opened the scoring, through Luis Diaz, in his new No 7 shirt, just as they agreed a fee first – £111million – with Brighton last week.
Then Chelsea hit back, through Axel Disasi on his debut, just as they surpassed Liverpool’s offer with an £115 million fee which – although never rule out a late twist – appears set to seal the deal with Caicedo who has always expressed a preference to join them but will go to the highest bidder.