Jordan Henderson Hits Milestone in Resurgence as Liverpool Win Away to Chelsea

The magnitude of Liverpool's 2-1 victory away to Chelsea on Friday night cannot be understated. Under the Stamford Bridge lights, Jurgen Klopp's side continued their excellent start to the 2016/17 Premier League season.

In what was their fourth away game of the league campaign so far, Liverpool looked to build on their emphatic 4-1 win at home to travelling champions Leicester City the previous weekend—and in holding on after a bright start, they did just that.

Efforts from Dejan Lovren and Jordan Henderson gave Klopp's Reds a two-goal lead heading into half-time. The in-form Diego Costa then hit his fifth strike of the season just before the hour mark to set up a tense finale in south-west London, but Liverpool produced a stoic defensive display to seal the three points.

They have now taken 10 points from their first five league games this season, including away clashes with Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. Defeat to Burnley in August serves as the only major blot on their copybook so far:

• Arsenal (A), Premier League: 4-3 win
• Burnley (A), Premier League: 2-0 loss
• Burton Albion (A), EFL Cup: 5-0 win
• Tottenham Hotspur (A), Premier League: 1-1 draw
• Leicester City (H), Premier League: 4-1 win
• Chelsea (A), Premier League: 2-1 win

After finishing the 2015/16 season in eighth place, that Liverpool head into the weekend in fourth, level on points with Chelsea and Everton and behind only Manchester City, is a major improvement. Symbolic of this resurgence in Klopp's first full season as Reds manager is Henderson.

The Liverpool captain, who endured a miserable campaign last time out, is looking to restore his reputation—and five games into the league season, he has reached another milestone in his quest to achieve this. 

With the departure of Steven Gerrard to LA Galaxy last summer, Henderson headed into 2015/16 with the increased burden of assuming the role of Liverpool captain on a full-time basis. He spent much of the 2014/15 season deputising for the Reds legend, who struggled with injury and an understandable decline in form.

Compounding this, however, were a host of fitness issues for Henderson himself, with heel, foot and knee problems limiting him to just 26 appearances and only 15 starts in the league, leading to questions over his suiting the position of Liverpool's standard bearer.

But speaking candidly to reporters at the beginning of September, the midfielder stressed that he was capable of recovering from "a very difficult time" in his career:

The biggest thing for me last season was not the captaincy but not playing regularly. When you’re not playing it is difficult to feel that you are the leader of the team. You want to help but I couldn’t. That’s a big difference with this season. I feel good, I feel fit.

I feel as though I am doing what is being asked of me in games and I’m a lot more confident going into games. Last year I was playing games when I wasn’t 100 percent and mentally that isn’t great.

[...]

I feel as though I’ve always had to prove myself. I wasn’t able to do that last season but now I feel as though I’m better off for going through that experience.

I’ve come out the other side of it and I’m in a good place.

This served as fighting talk from the former Sunderland youngster, and performing an unexpected role at the base of Klopp's three-man midfield in a 4-3-3 system so far this season, Henderson has moved to back up these claims on the pitch.

At Stamford Bridge, Henderson arrived in excellent form, and he looked to impose himself early on, supported by his box-to-box cohorts Adam Lallana and Georginio Wijnaldum. While Lallana led Liverpool's pressing game, as usual, Henderson provided a platform to push forward, breaking up attacks and dictating play.

The 26-year-old made two successful tackles and four interceptions, with this combined total (six) more than any other Liverpool player on the night and level with Chelsea's N'Golo Kante, continuing a trend that has seen him average 4.2 tackles and 1.4 interceptions per 90 minutes in the league so far in 2016/17.

Speaking after the game, Klopp acknowledged this as something of a surprise to the player himself, who had not expected to start the season in the No. 6 role:

But while his defensive commitment in the role has been unquestionable throughout the season so far, it was Henderson's goal at Stamford Bridge, taking the spin out of a poor Gary Cahill clearance before bending an unstoppable strike past Thibaut Courtois from 30 yards, that marked his progress most effectively.

Both Henderson and Klopp noted the mental benefits of the Reds' No. 14 finding the back of the net on Friday night—in what was his first goal for the club since January, in Liverpool's 5-4 win away to Norwich City:

After one of the most testing periods of his senior career so far, this should provide Henderson with the assurance that he is capable of performing to a high level in this new role; though, with both Lallana and Henderson both failing to track Nemanja Matic in the buildup to Costa's goal, there is still work to be done.

But that is very much the case with Klopp's Liverpool as a whole, and taking 10 points from their first five league games is commendable in this embryonic stage.

So, too, is that the Reds have been able to do so without yet fielding what is ostensibly Klopp's first-choice starting lineup.

That Klopp has turned to Henderson to operate as his No. 6 is a result of the wavering fitness of young German midfielder Emre Can, who returned late to pre-season training following a summer at the UEFA European Championship with Germany and subsequently suffered an ankle injury against Burton Albion.

Can had established himself as a key midfielder under Klopp in 2015/16, and slotting straight back into his starting lineup at the base of his three-man unit in the EFL Cup, it was clear which position the 49-year-old has earmarked for him.

However, with Can short of match fitness, that duty falls to Henderson, and with the captain performing excellently in his stead, this serves as a testament to the strength in depth within Klopp's squad.

Furthermore, Roberto Firmino was unavailable for the trip to Stamford Bridge due to a minor injury, leaving Klopp without his top goalscorer and key centre-forward. But with Philippe Coutinho, Sadio Mane and Daniel Sturridge to call upon, his absence was hardly felt; as with Coutinho at home to Leicester last time out.

In defence, the continued exile of Mamadou Sakho could have left Liverpool reeling without their strongest centre-back, but the progress of Dejan Lovren alongside new summer signing Joel Matip has put paid to these fears so far.

There is a healthy, competitive spirit running throughout Klopp's squad at this early stage of the season, and with players such as Henderson responding to this with regular match-winning displays, this can only be a good thing for Liverpool.

Jack Lusby will be covering Liverpool throughout 2016/17 as one of Bleacher Report's lead correspondents. Statistics via Transfermarkt.co.uk and WhoScored.com; quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Follow Jack on Twitter @jacklusby_ and Facebook here.