By Simon Evans
LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) – Ten-man Chelsea held on for a 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday after defender Reece James was sent off just before halftime.
Chelsea had taken the lead against the run of play when Kai Havertz met a James corner at the near post and his glancing header looped into the far corner past the helpless Alisson Becker.
But on the stroke of halftime, Liverpool drew level in controversial circumstances when, after a review of the pitchside monitor, referee Anthony Taylor ruled that James had handled on the line as he kept out a Sadio Mane effort and awarded a penalty and sent off the Chelsea fullback.
The images showed the ball had struck James’ thigh before bouncing up against his arm and while Chelsea felt hard done by, Mohamed Salah kept calm amid the protests to drive home the spot kick.
With his side down to 10 men, Thomas Tuchel made two changes at the break with Havertz and the injured N’Golo Kante making way for defender Thiago Silva and midfielder Mateo Kovacic.
The restructure worked well with Chelsea holding firm against a wave of Liverpool attacks to secure a point which maintained the unbeaten start to the season for both teams.
(Reporting by Simon Evans, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
