Chelsea’s late charge to push for a top-four finish was given a fatal blow tonight owing to a resilient performance from Huddersfield Town. The Blues were on a brilliant run, having won 5 of their last matches but it was stopped tonight at the Stamford Bridge when David Wagner’s men proved to be too indomitable an opposition for last season’s Premier League champions.
In fact, it was Laurent Depoitre of Huddersfield who struck first and got the ball into the back of the net five minutes into the restart. Though the Blues found their way back into the contest with a goal from Marcos Alonso, it proved to be too little too late and they had to be content with a share of the spoils.
Here is how the Chelsea players performed on an intense night of Premier League football.
Willy Caballero: 5
Did not have much to do but scoffed his only clearance when his half-hearted charge forward allowed Huddersfield through on an empty goal.
Marcos Alonso: 6.5
Perhaps the luckiest goal of the season, which meant that Chelsea were back in the game but it was only for a while as they failed to win all 3 points.
Antonio Rudiger: 6.5
Good defending throughout the match but could have done more for the goal.
Andreas Christensen: 6.5
A solid performance defensively and had a brilliant header saved magnificently.
Cesar Azpilicueta: 7.5
A tireless performance from the captain as he fought and fought but to no avail. There was no going past him defensively, however, as he put up a wall at the back for most of the game.
Davide Zappacosta: 4.5
Taken off in the second half, offered rather little in attack and was poor when he was on the ball and little to do in defence.
N’Golo Kante: 8
A brilliant performance in midfield once again. He ran and ran and intercepted everything and more. Needs a better defensive midfield partner.
Cesc Fabregas: 7
Brilliant when on the ball with his passing and vision but quite poor without it. He is not a holding midfielder and he needs to play ahead of Kante rather than beside him.
Willian: 6.5
An energetic performance full of running where he was the main creator for Chelsea. However, he lacked the vision to open up chances and was never as convincing as Hazard would have been.
Pedro: 5
Pointless running, created little, did not help the team with his poor positioning. He needs to be more mature but for someone who is already north of 30 it appears unlikely.
Alvaro Morata: 5.5
Empathy can be given for having to play through pain but he needs to be smarter on the ball and try to link up play at times rather than trying to score a goal from every touch he gets.
Substitutes:
Olivier Giroud: 6
Came on to try and get things moving and did better than Morata.
Eden Hazard: 6
Came on too late to impact a change in the match.
