London is Blue Dispatch #066

Ever so often, there is a fixture that marks a point of no return in Chelsea’s season. Graham Potter began his reign with a nine-game unbeaten streak which included five wins in a row. In the tenth, Potter returned to the Amex for a tense encounter against the Brighton side he pulled back from the brink. The Seagulls ran out comprehensive 4-1 winners. From hovering close to 4th, the Blues would win only five of their next 25 league games, after winning 6 in their first 15.

Then there’s the 3-0 loss against Arsenal eight years ago. The now fabled image of Marcos Alonso holding up three fingers to convey the Antonio Conte’s instructions – chi semina vento raccoglie tempesta – if you plant wind, you’ll harvest the storm. The winds of change then cemented our most recent league title.

Playing Liverpool at Anfield this time around marks, perhaps, the first real challenge of how far the side has come under his early tutelage. There is a seven-game unbeaten streak, five wins in a row sandwiched between two draws, a promising start to place his side firmly in the spot they consider the minimal requirement this season.

The Reds are top of the table despite the kind of turbulence that has unsettled those around them. At a time when the traditional “big six” are conceding more goals than ever, Liverpool have let in an astonishing two in seven games. Mo Salah, evergreen, already has 8 G/A in seven games. He has 4 goals and 3 assists in 13 games against the club he played for a decade ago, and Liverpool didn’t even need him to inflict two contrasting but crushing defeats on the Blues last season.

Most intriguing of all will be to see how Enzo Maresca approaches his first big game in more ideal circumstances than the one against Man City to begin the campaign. Fresh of a well-deserved Manager of the Month accolade, the 44-year-old Italian would have had enough time to pore over Liverpool’s seven games.

The conundrum for Maresca is quite simple in essence. The fans and the media want him to take the approach that hasn’t (this far) and doesn’t often work against Liverpool – an end-to-end slugfest until one is knocked out cold. After all, his attack is only second to Man City’s; two of his front four have already hit hat-tricks in the league. With the Merseysiders also missing the world-class custodianship of Alisson, why not bet on all-out war?

Wolves & Bournemouth pressed Liverpool hard, were bypassed multiple times but also reaped dividends by turning the ball over multiple times. Both ultimately lost their games, but they did show that the Red machine is still a vulnerable work in progress.

But then there’s the tangible evidence, the one lone blotch on their record against Nottingham Forest, who decided better than to try and beat Liverpool at their own game. They arrived, sat in an aggressive mid-block and forced their opponents to take sub-optimal routes to goal. Forest ended the first half with a grand total of zero xG, but Liverpool’s frustration built over the second, before Callum Hudson-Odoi stole a winner and Forest retreated even deeper, made a triple change to galvanize their out-of-possession efforts and pulled off the highly improbable at Anfield.

Which approach Maresca takes could have important repercussions in a brutal run of fixtures featuring a double-header against Newcastle, away to Man United & then welcoming Arsenal to the Bridge. Is it too early to go straight for the jugular, or are these chess games to be navigated with patience and perseverance? For a man who did his Coverciano thesis on the relationship between football and Chess, one hopes Maresca knows his next move, one that can flip the fortunes of the Slot machine.