Chelsea secured a comfortable victory, a 4-0 win away at Stoke City this weekend. Here are the player ratings for the blues in this tie:
Thibaut Courtois (7)- The keeper had another comfortable afternoon was not forced to make a save till the 60th minute. He also suffered a whack to the head after coming to claim a cross but carried on playing but without much to do.
César Azpilicueta (9)- The Spaniard continued his great start to the season he was solid as a centre-half and made a great 40-yard pass to set up Alvaro Morata for the first goal. In the second half he was shifted over to left back and then with 10 minutes left got in behind and unselfishly chested down for Morata to complete his hat-trick.
Andreas Christensen (7)- Was solid making some good headers away and was composed on the ball throughout the game.
Antonio Rudiger (8)- Showed good pace to cover and make tackles and also made some good clearances. He also stood his ground well against the big target man Peter Crouch.
Marcus Alonso (6)- Made some good runs down the left flank. He was booked in the 52nd minute and was lucky not to be sent off a couple of minutes later. Alonso was then subbed for Gary Cahill.
Tiemoue Bakayoko (8)- Did very well with N’Golo Kante in midfield. made a great tackle to deny Joe Allen a certain goal.
N’Golo Kante (6)- Did very well in midfield with Bakayoko. He nearly played Pedro in the 36th minute with a nice ball over the top of the defence.
Victor Moses (6)- Made some nice runs down the right flank and defended well against Stoke’s left-sided players.
Pedro (7)- Pounced on a poor chest back by Darren Fletcher and then had a great finish to make it 2-0 to Chelsea. Apart from that, he did not do an awful lot.
Willian (7)- Some great skill and runs to cause Stoke problems. Put in some good crosses.
Alvaro Morata (9) – What an afternoon, made a great run to get in behind and score just over a minute into the game. He then made a great run after picking up a loose pass from Glenn Johnson and finished superbly to make it 2-0. With nine minutes left he completed his trick after making being in the right place at the right time. On another day with other chances, he could have had five goals.
Substitutes:
Gary Cahill (5)- Did well to try and mark Crouch. Apart from that had little to do after coming on for Alonso.
Cesc Fabregas (5)- Made some nice passes but did not do an awful lot after replacing the goalscorer Pedro.
Eden Hazard (6)- Had a great one-two with Willian and then he saw his cross-shot cleared virtually off the line by Johnson otherwise it would have been a tap-in for Morata.
