KOP’S IDEAL HEAD START

Mane bags a brace, Thiago clicks into place, as Reds again the team to beat, but Kepa & Christensen blow it for Blues

THE big question all summer has been whether Liverpool can retain their title.

They delivered the answer in the most emphatic fashion at Stamford Bridge with a ruthless, clinical and brilliant victory, which shows they are still the team to beat.

Sadio Mane scored tw o remarkable goals to carry on his unstoppable title-winning form from last season, but it also highlighted the value of re-energising the squad. Thiago

Alcantara was a half-time substitute and the £20million midfielder showed his quality, breaking the Premier League record of completed passes in 45 minutes – 75 – more than Chelsea combined.

Fellow new boy Diogo Jota will have to wait for his debut, but his arrival only goes to prove that sometimes just merely having a new face can freshen things up.

In contrast, Chelsea have bought big to tr y to push themselves closer to Liverpool this season, yet all of the old defensive problems remain with their ability to press the selfdestruct button.

Andreas Christensen was s e n t of f a mi n u t e b e f o re half-time for pulling back Mane, even if it took a VAR review and for referee Paul Tierney to check his pitchside monitor to upgrade his initial yellow card to red.

But then, even worse, was another howler by

Kepa Arrizabalaga, who currently seems to make a shocking mistake in every game, and the £22m impending arrival of

Rennes keeper Edouard Mendy cannot come soon enough.

Kepa looks a broken man, the defence has lost their trust in him, Frank Lampard must ditch him or take him out of the firing line, because the £73m keeper will continue to cost them dear. For Chelsea , Timo Werner threatened and looked lively, Kai Havertz was disappointing and sacrificed at half-time to bring on another defender, Fikayo Tomori , after Christensen’s red card.

But neither made the sor t of i mpact that Thiago had on Liverpool’s performance.

The Spain midfielder was magnificent, as he was always in space to receive the ball, pick a pass and give another dimension to Jurgen