Chelsea and Liverpool 'poles apart' in Premier League race

While Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was fending off inquiries about whether his side could be the latest "Invincible" to go a Premier League season unbeaten, Liverpool's Brendan Rodgers was handling an inquisition about a third loss in seven days.

The mood swings could not have been more different as Chelsea's 2-1 win at Liverpool kept them in pole position in the early title running and left last season's runners-up struggling to halt a slide.
So what were the main talking points from this game of contrasts?
606 debate: Why are Liverpool on the slide?

Poles apart

The journey has only taken 195 days - but in this short time results and events have conspired to send Chelsea and Liverpool in polar opposite directions.
When Chelsea last won at Anfield on 27 April, it ended Liverpool's 11-game winning sequence that took them to the edge of the Premier League title on a tidal wave of dazzling football and fan fervour.
Since that day things have never been quite the same for Brendan Rodgers' side while Chelsea manager Mourinho has corrected the flaws in their make-up and restored them to the status of title favourites.
Liverpool lost their great talisman and world-class striker Luis Suarez after his World Cup biting shame while Chelsea struck swiftly in the markets to sign striker Diego Costa and bring Cesc Fabregas back to the Premier League from Barcelona.

Premier League form since last meeting in April 2014 between the sides (13 games)
Team	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
Chelsea	10	3	0	33
Liverpool	5	3	5	18

Rodgers used the £75m he received for Suarez to bolster his squad and add the big gamble of £16m Mario Balotelli - and the current status of both policies was placed starkly in front of Anfield on Saturday.
Chelsea looked united, a team that almost begs the quote "same as last week" from Mourinho. Round pegs in round holes, quality and strength the hallmarks.
Liverpool look a disjointed collection of parts, perhaps understandable given the scale of reconstruction of their squad, a team that has lost its way and the intensity that pressed so many opponents into submission last season.
Former England winger Chris Waddle, at Anfield for BBC Radio 5 live, said: "Brendan Rodgers doesn't know what his best team is or what his best system is."
The post-Suarez period of transition has not been helped by injury to Daniel Sturridge. The pair scored 52 goals between them last season and any team would miss that.
Whereas Costa and Fabregas have slipped seamlessly into Chelsea's team, Liverpool's newcomers have not hit their stride.
Dejan Lovren has been unconvincing since his £20m move from Southampton, while his former colleagues at St Mary's Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert only made the bench against Chelsea.

Emre Can at least scored via a deflection but Balotelli was again anonymous.