Thank God for Chelsea’s new £89 million ($102m) man, or we’d have had precious little to write about, from an attacking perspective.
It was something of a surprise that Graham Potter chose to leave Mudryk on the bench here, especially with Liverpool fielding the veteran James Milner at right-back due to a muscle niggle for Alexander-Arnold.
But it didn’t take long for the Bat Signal to go up. Ten minutes into the second half, the Ukrainian was summoned. He replaced the teenager Lewis Hall, trotted over to the left wing and proceeded to give Milner, and then Alexander-Arnold, nightmares.
His first flash saw him show lightning-quick feet in the penalty area, only to fire his shot into the side-netting. His second saw him rinse Milner for speed, draw a foul and get his man booked. His third should have brought a goal, but he was unable to steer Hakim Ziyech’s deep cross home at the back post, with Milner sleeping.
Mudryk remained a permanent menace against Alexander-Arnold, who was wisely brought on by Klopp, and created a chance which fellow sub Carney Chukwuemeka could have taken in stoppage time. He plays with his head up, with speed and awareness, and he looks like he is going to be a very exciting signing for Chelsea.
