Chelsea locked horns with Fulham at Craven Cottage earlier this evening looking to earn all three points in the London derby. The Blues made a dominant start to the game but struggled to make the decisive breakthrough in the first half. Frank Lampard’s men gained a numerical advantage just before the half-time when Antonee Robinson was sent off by the referee.
The West London outfit pushed on in search of the winner in the second 45 minutes and finally managed to score the opener in the 78th minute courtesy of Mason Mount’s goal. The contest ended with Chelsea securing a hard-fought 1-0 victory in the derby.
Let’s take a look at how each Chelsea player fared during the clash against the Cottagers.
GK: Edouard Mendy – 6.5/10
The Blues goalie didn’t have too many saves to make in the game and earned a comfortable clean sheet earlier this evening.
RB: Cesar Azpilicueta – 7/10
The Spaniard performed his defensive duties quite well and created one meaningful chance during the game.
CB: Antonio Rüdiger – 7.5/10
Rudiger did his job when called into action at the back and was threat at the other end as well. He will be quite happy with the clean sheet on the road.
CB: Thiago Silva – 8/10
The Brazilian centre-back was a commanding presence inside his penalty box and won some important duels for this side in the air. He also snuffed out the danger when required to earn a well-deserved shutout in the London derby.
LB: Ben Chilwell – 6.5/10
Chilwell didn’t give away too much in defence but struggled to orchestrate any chances in the Fulham half.
CM: Mason Mount – 9/10
The English midfield ace worked hard to help his team dominate the game at the centre of the park. He engineered a plethora of goal-scoring chances for others around him and popped up with the winning goal in the 78th minute.
CM: Jorginho – 6/10
Jorginho kept possession moving effortlessly for Chelsea but didn’t give a good account of himself going forward.
CM: Mateo Kovacic – 6.5/10
He hardly gave away the ball and had a couple of bright moments in the attacking third.
LW: Christian Pulisic – 6.5/10
Pulisic made a couple of promising sprints with the ball and was quite tricky to cope with for the opposition defenders. Still, there was no goal or assist for him today.
ST: Olivier Giroud – 6/10
The French centre-forward squandered a lot of chances to find the back of the net but deserves credit for being a nuisance to the Cottagers centre-backs.
RW: Hakim Ziyech – 6/10
Ziyech was not shy of having a shot at goal but struggled to find the finishing touch in front of the opponent’s goal.
Substitutes:
ST: Tammy Abraham – 5/10
He never looked like he had a goal in him.
LW: Timo Werner – 5/10
The German striker wasted a glorious chance to kill the game off.
RW: Callum Hudson-Odoi – 5/10
The youngster struggled to get into the game.
