After a vital Champions League victory at Wanda Metropolitano on Wednesday, Chelsea returned to Premier League action in a huge league tie against Manchester City.
Unfortunately, the game didn’t end as positively as it did against Atletico Madrid. Kevin de Bruyne’s second-half strike was enough to see the visitors win the game and head all the way to the top of the table.
Chelsea seemed knackered and unfit tonight, and the fans were not impressed by the players’ overall displays. Here’s a recap of how the Blues performed tonight…
A superb reaction save from Thibaut Courtois helped the Blues to see the game scoreless after the first half, and some brilliant blocks and interceptions by Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger kept City’s lead at just one goal. Gary Cahill was the most uncomfortable performer of the centre-backs.
Despite the two centre-back’s good performances, Chelsea were awful at the attacking end. Tiemoue Bakayoko and N’Golo Kante were occasionally at the right place at the right time to kill off City’s dangerous attacks, but along with Cesc Fabregas, the hosts’ midfield performed very poorly. Attacking creativity really seemed unexistant.
Marcos Alonso was also quite useless attacking-wise on the left flank, but did good runs towards our own goal, saving our skin once or twice. Cesar Azpilicueta on the other hand was a brave pick for the right wing-back’s role from Conte. Eventhough the Spaniard did well defensively, he didn’t really offer more than a few easily caught crosses from his flank.
Alvaro Morata had a good opportunity to head Chelsea into the lead on the first minutes of the game, but he wasn’t quite able to direct his effort on target. The Spaniard was looking good on the ball all the way until the 35th minute, when he had to request for a substitution due to a hamstring injury. Morata’s absence meant a lot of difficulties for Chelsea’s attack, especially with Willian being unable to create any sort of threat for the City defence. Eden Hazard was far off from his best as well, compared to what we saw from him against Atletico Madrid earlier this week. Michy Batshuayi and Pedro, who came on from the bench after City’s opener, were really helpless against the visitors’ tight defence, and were also unable to turn their few chances into goals.
Chelsea players’ performances were very poor overall, and the only man who truly rose to the occasion was Christensen. He was confident with the ball and superb at the back, making a huge statement of his ability to Conte and the fans.
Player Ratings:
Courtois:Â 7 | Rudiger:Â 7Â – Christensen:Â 8 – Cahill:Â 5Â | Azpilicueta:Â 6 – Kante:Â 5 – Bakayoko:Â 6Â – Fabregas: 5Â – Alonso:Â 5 | Hazard:Â 6 – Morata:Â 6
Willian: 4 | Pedro: 5 | Batshuayi: 4
