The sound of referee Anthony Taylor's final whistle echoing around a rapidly emptying Stamford Bridge to the sound of silence was the perfect backing track to this non-event.
Chelsea and Liverpool have played out many epic clashes in domestic and European fixtures over the last two decades as they fought each other for the game's biggest prizes. This was not one of them.
If those past meetings reflected their elevated status as two of the prime forces in the Premier League, Champions League, the FA Cup and League Cup, this drab affair encapsulated their current standings of eighth and 11th in the table.