In what was arguably the biggest game of the season, Chelsea faced a very tough and offensive Liverpool side…

Despite the Reds looking poor for the last few weeks, they certainly turned up against Chelsea – as they so often do – putting in one of their best performances of this season.

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Nonetheless, Chelsea looked strong and resolute and were able to push back the Liverpool onslaught until a wonder David Luiz free kick put the Blues 1-0 up.

Liverpool equalised not long into the second-half, before Diega Costa missed a penalty – with the game ended all square at 1-1.

On the night, it was probably a fair result – but Antonio Conte will be able to take more than a few positives out of the game, not least the sizeable gap that is now opening between Chelsea and second place.

With that said, here are 3 things Conte learned from Chelsea’s defiant 1-1 victory with Liverpool…

N’Golo Kante

David Luiz will get all the credit for his wonderful goal, and rightly so, but one man that Antonio Conte was surely impressed with was N’Golo Kante.

The Frenchman has had a tough few weeks, and has looked under par for a while, but if the game against Hull City was a low point – his performance against Liverpool was undoubtedly a high point.

He was absolutely everywhere, often appearing out of nowhere just in time to prevent a Liverpool attack.

There might have been a few question marks over the Frenchman going into the game, but they have been firmly wiped away now.

Resolute Defence

Chelsea haven’t had to sit back and defend much this season, but the Blues had to really dig in against Klopp’s side.

Often unable to hold the ball for large passages of play, Chelsea were often limited to having 10 players behind the ball – and it would have delighted Conte at how resolute his defence was.

The Blues haven’t really had much practice at it, and so Conte will now know how well his side can do when under pressure.

 Set Piece Solution

Chelsea have struggled from set pieces this season, with a combination of Willian, Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas given the main responsibility so far.

However, David Luiz’s rocket in the first half will surely have allowed Antonio Conte to recognise the talent that he has from a dead ball – and given that he is a regular starter, you can bet that the Brazilian will be taking charge from here on out.

Last season, the Blues were deadly from free kicks – and Conte will likely be confident now that they can regain that efficiency.

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