Pochettino's Chelsea fight back to draw with Liverpool in Premier League opener

Mauricio Pochettino’s first Premier League game in charge of Chelsea ended in a battling draw with against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Debutant Axel Disasi scored on his debut for the home side to cancel out Luis Diaz's opener for Jurgen Klopp’s visitors.

Former Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain boss Pochettino took the reins in the summer after a desperately disappointing campaign that saw Chelsea finish 12th in the league last term.

The sides also saw one goal apiece ruled out for offside in a helter-skelter encounter that showed how much both would benefit from a midfielder like Moises Caicedo or Romeo Lavia.

Chelsea and Liverpool will renew their transfer battle for a number six after Sunday’s action-packed clash in the Stamford Bridge sunshine.

Mohamed Salah saw an early effort rattle the crossbar before expertly slipping in Diaz to score a goal that the Egypt star then coolly added to, only for it to be ruled out on VAR review.

Chelsea made the most of that let-off. Disasi levelled from a looping header by Ben Chilwell, who soon rounded Alisson to score only for the VAR to rule him offside as well.

The teams played out an entertaining second half without a winner and Salah looked irked to have been taken off as Liverpool hunted a second.

Chelsea ended strongly but made an uneasy start to Sunday’s game. Carney Chukwuemeka was booked in the fourth minute for a high foot and Diogo Jota mishit poorly after good work by debutant Dominik Szoboszlai.

Liverpool played with more edge than the new-look hosts, with Salah recovering a poor Cody Gakpo pass, turning and continuing to curl a 20-yard right-footed effort off the crossbar.

The former Chelsea player started the afternoon with the bit between his teeth and