Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea: Honours even in Anfield stalemate as Kai Havertz has an early goal disallowed

Jurgen Klopp knows how to extract the last squeeze of positivity from even the least-promising situation. 

It was remarked that this, his 1000th game as a manager in football, wasn’t perhaps a classic. ‘I think Arsene Wenger lost his 1000th game 6-0 so I am really happy,’ said Klopp. He beamed that big smile and you could almost believe things were turning a corner.

This was the current World Champions versus the Champions League finalists; or tenth versus eighth: it depends how you sell it, what spin you want to put on the current manifestations of Chelsea and Liverpool. 

Liverpool and Chelsea played out a goalless stalemate in the Premier League at Anfield on Saturday lunchtime

It was a competitive encounter as both sides enjoyed spells of pressure but lacked that final bit of quality to score

If felt more like early-season Carabao Cup. The respective injury crises at both clubs mean there was a smattering of stars, a few ageing pros and unfamiliar youngsters.

And nothing says mid-table mediocrity than the underwhelmed silence that greeted the final whistle followed by the ripple of polite applause. This was not one of the great encounters between these two clubs. 

The quality of the game had a distinct middle-of-the-road feel about it. It certainly wasn’t as if two of the elite teams in world football were going toe to toe. 

Maybe the value of the subs hinted at that: an £89million winger came on as did an £85m striker. Neither made a huge difference.

Kai Havertz thought he had opened the scoring for after he tapped home in three minutes to give Chelsea the perfect start

However, after a VAR check, the Chelsea forward was ruled offside and his very early goal was disallowed

Yet both managers will feel that foundations are being laid for the second half of the season even as the top four disappear further away into the distance. 

Graham Potter will have virtually a new team for the New Year. 

Noni Madueke joins £89m Mykhailo Mudryk, who got on at Anfield and looked lively enough, David Fofana, Andrey Santos and Benoit Badiashile, who performed well, plus the loan signing of Joao Felix –suspended for this game – which takes their spending to £190m this January alone. 

The Todd Boehly regime makes Roman Abramovich looks parsimonious and measured. 

New ownership and new coach always means transition but this has been a revolution rather than an evolved approach.

We saw glimpses of what Mudryk might be, when he danced through the Liverpool defence but ended up striking into the side netting. 

‘He’s dangerous in one versus one situations, he will make things happen, get supporters off their seats and his dribbling actions are really good,’ said Potter.

For Klopp, there was the first Premier League start of 18-year-old Stefan Bajcetic – his direct opponent being Chelsea’s 18-year-old Lewis Hall. 

They both coped well but Klopp was delighted with Bajcetic. 

‘There was a door, I’m not even sure it was open but he just ran through it,’ said Klopp of how he has seized the opportunity with so many injuries. 

‘There are not a lot of good things in the situation we are in but we have situations for young players and that is one of the positive things.

Chelsea’s new signing Benoit Badiashile should’ve opened the scoring but Alisson made a fine save from five yards

The Reds were wasteful in the final third with talisman Mohamed Salah (right) guilty of blazing over a first-half chance

Chelsea youngster Lewis Hall impressed in midfield with his energy and drive throughout the clash at Anfield

Chelsea’s new £88million signing Mykhailo Mudryk was introduced in the second half by Blues manager Graham Potter

There were precious few moments of drama though and we were spoilt in that the most-exciting came in third minute, when Kai Havertz poked in a shot in from of The Kop and Chelsea celebrated with gusto and at length, only for Anfield to roar with schadenfreude when the VAR eventually ruled it out for offside after a lengthy delay.

It suggested there might be more to come and, as such, it was a cruelly deceptive omen. There was Hakim Ziyech setting off on mazy run across goal on the hour, gliding past five players and then skewing his shot over the bar. 

Or Naby Keita with a super ball to Mo Salah just prior to half time which put the Egyptian free and in space, Salah, with one goal in his last five, shot wastefully over the bar. The game screamed two teams in transition, whether it was a rare Alisson mis-kick conceding a corner or Carney Chukwuemeka tripping over his own feet in the box.

Both team’s defensive structures at least looked a little more secure. Badiashile looked adept, having dropped into a Premier League contest, even if not a truly elite one. 

The new signing showed glimpses of his undoubted talent on the left wing for the Blues and came close to scoring

Mudryk fired into the side netting after showing quick feet to take it past two players in the box, wowing his new supporters

Ziyech looked a little bit more like the winger who played for Morocco in the World Cup. And James Milner is… well, James Milner. The season tick by but he remains essentially the same reliable player he was at 16, just these days performing with competence at right back rather than attacking midfield.

But what we know is wrong with the teams remains wrong. Liverpool’s midfield, whether it be the more experienced ageing stars or the youngsters brought in to replace them, remains a shadow of the powerhouse that propelled it to three Champions League finals.

Chelsea have little in attack. Their big investments of late have been Romelu Lukaku, unhappily on loan at Inter with two goals this season, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who is at least one ahead in the goals’ race with three this season and who came off the bench here, without noticeably increasing the game’s quality.

Havertz is the best they have and he isn’t good enough, as a centre forward at least. They can sign as many attacking wide players as they want – and Chelsea seem intent of collecting every available one in the world – but without a goal scorer, all the foreplay might be wasted effort. 

Liverpool were much improved in the second period and dominated the start of the half in Klopp’s 1000th game as a manager

It was an entertaining game but both sides lacked any sort of quality in the final third to break the deadlock on Merseyside

In midfield here, Hall did commendably for an 18 year old and Jorginho held things together. But the latter looks too old and the former too young to represent a real force while Conor Gallagher, despite early energy, looked lost.

The promised land of the top four, which at least keeps accountants happy and is the par for course, slips ever further away. We can only influence it by winning,’ said Klopp. ‘There are a lot of games to play and if you count all the points a lot of things are possible but to get there we have to continue with the things we did here. The last two games I saw progress.

‘Usually a point against Chelsea is not a bad result but I feel I have to sit here and explain [to people]: “How can you not win against them?” I saw good signs and now we have to do the good things even better and longer. We will go in that direction I am sure’

Neither team can take much from a goal-less draw, just the positives about stemming the flow of bleeding and bandaging up the wounds. On a freezing lunch time at Anfield, that was about as good as it got.

Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea: Re-live the minute-by-minute action as it happened at Anfield with Sportsmail’s live blog