When Arne Slot had suggested Chelsea were potential champions, it posed the question of whether they could keep up with Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool. It soon transpired they could not keep up with the Joneses.

Or not Curtis Jones, anyway. Winners are not always scored by the best player on the pitch but, in a match that could shape two clubs’ seasons, this one was. Jones’ display of extraordinary dynamism restored Liverpool to the top of the table. It meant that Chelsea, already beaten by Manchester City, have failed their two biggest tests of the season so far. Liverpool, now seven points clear of them, have passed their toughest.

They did so courtesy of a couple of very different indictments of Chelsea’s transfer business. Many a charge can be levelled at Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital but it was a previous Chelsea regime who let Mohamed Salah leave. With a goal and an assist, he gave them added reasons to regret a past mistake. If Jones is precisely the kind of player the modern-day Chelsea would sell, Liverpool do not need to dispense with homegrown talents for pure profit. Jones joined them at nine. At 23, he had one of his finest afternoons in a red shirt.

There’s plenty more coming from Carragher, Richards and Sturridge on TV.

The first notable comments surround Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson, who Sturridge is keen to defend.

“Nicolas Jackson is pivotal to the system,” he says.

“He’s good at going into the false nine position. It was a fantastic finish, calm in front of goal.

“I am analysing him on open play. I’m not analysing him on statistics, I don’t think he’s devastating in front of goal, but I think he has what it takes to get there.

“When you’re playing in the spotlight at any top club you are judged because of likes of Drogba, Anelka and Crespo - you’re judging him compared to those world-class strikers.

“I think we have been a bit too critical,” he adds.

Reece James also briefly spoke to Sky after the match.

“Coming here is always tough,” he said.

“I think we controlled most of the game. They had chances but we had a few chances as well but didn’t take them.

“We are definitely moving in the right direction. The scoreline doesn’t reflect the game,” he added.

“If we step back and look at performances and what we are trying to do, we have come a long way. It is still early days, we haven’t been with the manager long.”

Enzo Maresca is next to speak to Sky. He says Chelsea “don’t like to lose or drop points, but I really liked the performance”.

“We deserved something more but the performance was good.

“We controlled most of the game. We had chances, we had possession. We don’t like to lose, but if we have to choose this is the way. The team was brave on and off the ball.

“I don’t think this game defines where we are. We prepared in the best way, it worked quite well. You have to take chances, but overall I am very happy with the players.”

On refereeing decisions, he adds: “I didn’t see anything in terms of decisions from the referee. The only thing I can see is in this stadium is is something the noise of the crowd.

“The only thing I can say is the referee is there to make decisions. Sometimes they are right, sometimes they are wrong. Sometimes it is because of the noise [of the crowd], but overall I think they did OK.”

Arne Slot is understandably delighted as he speaks to Sky.

“The most important thing, if you want to have a chance of winning a game like this, is that you work so hard, which we did,” he says.

“In the meantime, we created a few very good chances, and were a bit unlucky with some decisions,” he adds.

 “I think it could’ve been a crucial decision to overturn the referee’s decision [on the penalty]. If you look at it on a screen, you still feel it is a penalty.”

He adds that he thinks the early last-man challenge from Tosin on Jota was also a red card.

“The fans helped us a lot, it probably comes from these decisions.

“In the end, a good win against a very strong Chelsea,” he says, before adding that Curtis Jones put in a “very good individual performance”.

“Curtis had a difficult job, he had to control Cole Palmer, which is not easy. He was very important for us on both parts of the pitch. 

“Everybody who saw the game knows it wasn’t easy. For us it’s very good that we made a bit of a gap now.”

On Sky, Jamie Carragher has hailed Jones’ performance, calling it a “throwback”.

“Curtis Jones was brilliant, he was outstanding,” said Carragher.

“He’s still at that stage where he doesn’t know for certain if he is first choice, when you have got Gravenberch and Mac Allister.

“But what a performance that was, when you think of the quality on the pitch and the money that has been spent. For a local lad to be player of the match.

“I wonder if Arne Slot is going to go back in for Zubimendi in January, but when you see how he played today you think ‘no’.

“He has to now do it on a consistent basis.”

Matchwinner Curtis Jones is first to speak to Sky.

“We came away with a win, it’s the most important thing obviously,” he says.

“I had it in my mind, if I can keep Cole [Palmer] quiet then that’s a large part of the game. 

On the penalties, he says: “I never dive, I felt the contact, so I went down”.

“If you want to play in this team, you’ve got to run, you’ve got to have energy, you’ve got to help out. 

On his goal, he adds: “There’s been times when I’ve arrived in the box and it’s been a first-time one. I thought it was going to come and it did, and I was fortunate enough. I got the goal.” He finishes by calling his newborn daughter “a little dream”.

That result means Liverpool return to the top of the league table. The Reds sit on 21 points, one above Manchester City and four above Arsenal.

Chelsea miss the chance to enter the top three, and they stay sixth, on 14 points.

So, an entertaining match comes to an end at Anfield and Liverpool return to the top of the Premier League table.

The Reds probably deserved the win in the end, though Chelsea produced a good performance to take them all the way. However, in attack, Chelsea couldn’t create enough and paid the price for a couple of defensive lapses.

Arne Slot’s side have answered yet another question thrown at them, and if they carry on like this, they may work themselves into the title conversation.