Chelsea welcomed Zenit Saint Petersburg at Stamford Bridge earlier tonight as they hoped to secure a positive result in front of their home supporters. Both sides fought tooth and nail in the first 45 minutes but struggled to break each other down as the Blues went into the half-time interval with a goalless scoreline.
It was a similar story in the early goings of the second half. However, Romelu Lukaku finally managed to break the deadlock in the 69th minute when he found the back of the net with a good header. The contest ended with the West London giants securing a narrow 1-0 win over Sergei Semak’s men.
Let’s take a look at how each Chelsea player fared during the match against Zenit.
GK: Edouard Mendy – 7/10
The Blues goalie made a couple of solid saves to deny the Russian outfit a goal. He will be pleased with the clean sheet tonight.
CB: Cesar Azpilicueta – 7/10
The Spanish veteran made a couple of important contributions when defending inside his half. He also delivered the cross that led to Lukaku’s match-winner.
CB: Andreas Christensen – 7/10
He was strong in the air and passed the ball accurately from the back. Christensen did enough to get over the line with the clean sheet intact.
CB: Antonio Rudiger – 7/10
The German centre-back was mostly untroubled defensively but made a couple of promising dashes with the ball going forward.
RM: Reece James – 7/10
James made two crucial interceptions and managed to create some key chances for his teammates to score.
CM: Mateo Kovacic – 7.5/10
He was solid off the ball and also made some encouraging runs with it in the Zenit half. It was another impressive display from him tonight.
CM: Jorginho – 7/10
The Italy international protected his backline well but failed to make an impact in the final third.
LM: Marcos Alonso – 6.5/10
The Spaniard was solid when defending at the back but struggled to influence the game in the final third, which was quite unlike him.
RAM: Mason Mount – 7/10
Mount was always willing to run with the ball and engineered a few inviting chances for others around him. However, there was no goal or assist for him tonight.
LAM: Hakim Ziyech – 6.5/10
Ziyech made two good runs with the ball but was lacklustre in the attacking end of the field. He had a few shot attempts but failed to register a goal and was replaced after the hour mark.
ST: Romelu Lukaku – 8/10
Lukaku was a constant threat because of his pace and power. He kept trying and finally managed to score the only goal of the game in the 69th minute with a decent header. He just about deserves the man of the match award.
Substitutes:
LAM: Kai Havertz – 6/10
The German youngster offered very little in the Zenit half.
LM: Ben Chilwell – N/A
He did not get enough time to make an impact.
CB: Thiago Silva – N/A
He came off the bench to see out the victory for the Blues.
RAM: Ruben Loftus-Cheek – N/A
Loftus-Cheek came on for the final few minutes of the game.
