Chelsea faced off against BATE Borisov earlier tonight looking to continue their winning run in the UEFA Europa League. The Pensioners enjoyed more of the ball in the first half but could not manage to make a breakthrough. However, the second half was a different story as they piled on the pressure early on and scored the opening goal of the game through Olivier Giroud’s header.
BATE tried to respond but was unable to find the back of the Chelsea net. The match ended with a final scoreline of 1-0 in favour of the West London outfit.
Let’s take a look at how each Chelsea player fared during the encounter against BATE.
GK: Kepa Arrizabalaga – 6.5/10
He made a world-class save during the early stages of the game. However, he was largely untroubled throughout the rest of the match.
RB: Davide Zappacosta – 5/10
He was average at best during the game and struggled to make an impact going forward.
CB: Gary Cahill – 6/10
The English defender made a few mistakes in the first half, but fortunately for him, BATE failed to take their chances. He did just enough to earn a clean sheet on the night.
CB: Andreas Christensen – 6/10
His distribution was often inaccurate. However, he performed well defensively to keep the BATE attackers at bay.
LB: Emerson Palmieri dos Santos – 6.5/10
The Chelsea left-back managed to put in a telling cross into the box which led to Giroud’s goal. Otherwise, he mostly had an ineffective game down the left flank.
CM: Ruben Loftus-Cheek – 4.5/10
It was an off-night for the English youngster. He found it difficult to cope with the work ethic of the BATE midfielders and gave away the ball quite a few times during the contest.
CM: Jorginho – 6/10
The Chelsea midfielder was largely frustrated for not being able to find that defence-splitting pass on the night. However, he retained possession well for his team in midfield.
CM: Ross Barkley – 6/10
The English talent had some attempts from range and tried to be inventive with his passes. But the shine was missing from his performance tonight.
RM: Pedro – 5/10
The Spaniard was caught out in possession at times and lacked the cutting edge in the opposition half.
ST: Olivier Giroud – 7.5/10
The French forward scored the only goal of the match when he headed home from close range. However, he got very little ammunition from his teammates which made life lonely for him inside the BATE box.
LM: Eden Hazard – 6/10
The BATE defenders worked hard to closely mark him which rendered him ineffective during the match.
Substitutes:
RM: Willian – 7/10
The Brazilian came off the bench to put on a nice little cameo. He was bright and inventive during his time on the pitch.
CM: Mateo Kovacic – 5/10
He failed to make an impact in the game.
LM: Callum Hudson-Odoi – N/A
Not enough time for him to influence the match.
