How Chelsea's players rated in their woeful 3-0 defeat to Arsenal
Chelsea Football Club aren’t having the best time of it at the moment. Antonio Conte’s side started the season off brightly, but over the last fortnight things have fizzled out somewhat, and they look extremely frail defensively. Perhaps that is down to their leader in John Terry being injured, but their fans must be concerned.
On the day, Chelsea got exactly what they deserved – a hammering. Wenger’s Arsenal played them off the park from the first minute until the last, and although things improved in the second half the game was already over.
We’ve rated the performances of their players below:
Thibaut Courtois – 4
A rough day at the office for Thibaut. He had to pick the ball out of the back of his net three times in the first half, and at times, he didn’t help himself. His distribution just wasn’t good enough today.
Branislav Ivanovic – 3
Not great. The right-back just doesn’t look good enough to play at the highest level anymore. He couldn’t keep up with the pace in Arsenal’s attack right from the off.
Gary Cahill – 3
At fault for Sanchez’s opener as he lost possession far too cheaply. The England international never really recovered from that, and didn’t command the defence.
David Luiz – 5
Let’s be honest, defensively, he is no John Terry and his positioning wasn’t good at times today. He looks good going forward, though, and has a real eye for a pass.
Cesar Azpilicueta – 4
Much like Ivanovic, Azpilicueta struggled with the width of Arsenal’s wingers. Theo Walcott just took him to the cleaners today.
Nemanja Matic – 4
Physically, he is a real nightmare at times, but Arsenal’s dynamic midfield just passed the ball around him and he couldn’t get a foothold on the ball.
N’Golo Kante – 5
Energetic as always, and broke up some Arsenal attacks. They were just coming too frequently, though, and he couldn’t do it all on his own.
Cesc Fabregas – 5
Needed an excellent performance to cement his place in the side, but got overran in the middle of the park and didn’t control the game like you’d expect a player of his quality to do.
Eden Hazard – 3
Chelsea rely heavily on Hazard to produce that big of magic, but today was one to forget for the Belgian winger. Conte likes his wide players to get in and help out defensively, but his marking for Arsenal’s second goal was atrocious.
Willian – 5
The Brazilian made some nice passes and tried to use his pace to trouble Arsenal, but he just couldn’t do anything effective. Rightly subbed in the second half.
Diego Costa – 6
Chelsea’s best player, by far. He looked up for this, held the ball up superbly and kept his anger in check for the most part. It’s a shame as he didn’t get any help whatsoever.
Subs:
Marcos Alonso – 5
Came on as a left-back in a five-man defence. Did alright defensively due to having that extra man in alongside him.
Michy Batshuayi – 5
Looked lively. Brought some pace to the table and wasn’t afraid to run at Arsenal’s defenders. Not enough time to make any real impact, though.
Pedro – 4
The Spaniard was given limited minutes to come on and make the difference, but didn’t really get into the game.
Manager:
Antonio Conte – 3
Got it horribly wrong today. Things looked a lot better when the Italian made the switch to a 3-5-2 system, but the game was already lost and there was no way his side were getting back into it. He has a big job on his hands.
Featured Image: All rights reserved by David Price.
