Jadon Sancho has had a good start to life at Chelsea. In five league games (four starts) he has three assists, already half the amount he managed at Manchester United in 58 appearances (41 starts).

In the highest-profile of his matches so far, though, Sancho ran into a familiar problem. At Anfield, he was less effective and able to exploit the space that Chelsea created.

Not quite to the same effect as Nottingham Forest - who totally sat off Chelsea and allowed possession around the box - Liverpool conceded the ball and failed to stop Enzo Maresca's side building through the thirds. This was a tactical win for Chelsea but didn't really have much of a tangible impact on the game.

Moises Caicedo's pass from a central area to Nicolas Jackson, setting up the goal right after half-time, was basically the only real clear-cut chance from open play Chelsea managed all match. Liverpool were largely able to settle into a mid-block and rarely found themselves overly stretched in behind, especially before half-time.

Noni Madueke did cause Andy Robertson some trouble with his direct play. The reaction was for the ball to often be funnelled towards Sancho on the left, understandably, as Arne Slot looked to keep Cole Palmer out of the game.

Sancho, then, had more touches whilst on the pitch than Palmer, even though he was playing considerably wider than Chelsea's talisman, who tried to impact the game from deeper. Faced with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Sancho didn't have a bad game, just a relatively safe one.

He completed all but three of his passes, could have won a penalty before Liverpool themselves were awarded a spot-kick, and had less support than Palmer due to Malo Gusto's more conservative manner on the left. Had Sancho been working with a natural full-back, maybe things would have been different.

Against Bournemouth, he dove-tailed nicely with Marc Cucurella, who offered runs inside and out to establish multiple passing options for Sancho. On Merseyside the tale was different. Gusto didn't maraude as much as usual and Reece James, playing a reserved role on his return, tucked inside.

It left Sancho with lots to do on the ball and despite him getting it as much as any forward on the field before being substituted, few inroads were made. That is perhaps a story of Chelsea's game as a whole because even with more possession than a controlled Slot Liverpool side, their shots were limited and resulted in just two on target over the 96 minutes.

Chelsea did outshoot their opponents but unsurprisingly had less to trouble Caiomhin Kelleher. Sancho didn't manage one of them. Gusto had two, as many as any Liverpool player, with Palmer the only person taking more with four attempts.

In fact, Sancho has only had one shot so far in the Premier League for Chelsea. This follows a slightly concerning trend too. Even in his brief resurgence at Borussia Dortmund from January to May, he took nine attempts in the Bundesliga. For a player regularly looking to work the ball on the edge of the box, it is an unusually low volume.

Some wingers don't take many shots. Not everyone is Palmer - who took 100 last season, 20 more than any Chelsea player and only 13 less than Erling Haaland, who had the most in the division. But Sancho's willingness, or lack thereof, to try and test goalkeepers, is an issue.

In the first two seasons, his on-target percentage was over 50%, suggesting that he took high quality efforts. There is little wrong with this, especially for someone who demonstrated that he would score almost every other attempt on target, on average. His xG per shot was hardly high - finishing overperformance indicates good shooting, or maybe a feat he isn't actually able to repeat - but by and large he just didn't take on that much.

For Chelsea, this becomes a bigger problem when Palmer is unable to cause the threat often relied on. Maresca does have a multi-faceted attack, and the introduction of Pedro Neto certainly made a difference, but when Palmer and Nicolas Jackson are out of the game there is much less to worry about.

This may sound obvious as Chelsea's two main goal threats, but given Madueke and Sancho are also on the pitch, it is a concern just how little the shooting is spread across the team. In the league, for example, Jackson, Palmer, and Madueke have had almost 60% of shots in the squad.

Joao Felix (122 minutes in total and unused at Anfield) has the fourth most. Christopher Nkunku is one of the most reliable scorers in Europe when on form but has had just five shots as his game time remains incredibly low.

Neto is more willing to take a pop, and will look to on either foot as well. Sancho has been the starting left-sided winger, though, and if not able to fully create for his teammates will need to add more to his repertoire if he isn't to be replaced.

There is no reason to panic for Chelsea. They have, in Sancho, an extremely talented player able to influence matches in different ways to his teammates, which is something Maresca is still learning to utilise and is very much a nice privilege to have. He may well still find himself out of the team in other matches against top six sides if more direct danger is caused.

Click this link to follow the football.london Chelsea WhatsApp channel, where you'll be kept up to date on the latest Blues news wherever you are.

Just remember to turn on the notifications once you've followed, and you won't miss a beat!