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#3 Winning the Midfield Battle
Maurizio Sarri had a dilemma against Liverpool. He knew that he needed both Kante and Jorginho to play their natural game, but had to sweat on deciding the perfect partner to complete the midfield. Where he has usually used Barkley and Kovacic, the Italian opted for Ruben Loftus-Cheek against Liverpool.
However, against the power and tenacity of Liverpool's midfield, the three men came up quite short. Kante was the pick of the lot, but Jorginho and Loftus-Cheek hardly had any impact. Henderson and Fabinho ensured that the Chelsea midfield had no space or time on the ball to thread those passes. Keita ensured that Jorginho could never dictate the tempo of the game.
Liverpool won the midfield battle early in the game and their tempo forced the Chelsea midfielders further back from their position. Ultimately, Klopp managed to shut out the supply line for Chelsea forwards and was successful in isolating them. By winning the midfield battle, Liverpool won the game.
