Chelsea entertained Leicester City at Stamford Bridge earlier tonight as they looked to earn a victory at home and take a giant step towards securing UEFA Champions League football for next season. The Blues made a bright start to the contest but didn’t get the rub of the green in the final third as they went into the half-time interval with a goalless scoreline.
Thomas Tuchel’s men broke the deadlock just two minutes into the second half when Antonio Rudiger bundled the ball in from close range. Jorginho doubled Chelsea’s advantage in the 66th minute when he kept his cool to convert his penalty. However, Kelechi Iheanacho got a goal back for Leicester with a clinical finish to set up an exciting finale.
Tensions erupted between the two sets of players in the latter stages of the game as the West London giants went on to secure a hard-fought 2-1 victory at home.
Let’s take a look at how each Chelsea player performed during the match against the Foxes.
GK: Edouard Mendy – 6.5/10
The Blues keeper made a couple of solid saves but would be disappointed after shipping in such a late goal which extinguished his hopes of a clean sheet.
CB: Reece James – 7/10
He kept things solid inside his half by clearing his lines when called into action. Tuchel will be pleased with his performance tonight.
CB: Thiago Silva – 7/10
Silva won a lot of aerial duels and deserves credit for keeping Leicester’s Jamie Vardy quiet throughout the 90 minutes.
CB: Antonio Rudiger – 7.5/10
Rudiger was there in the right place at the right time to score the opening goal from point-blank range. He hardly put a foot wrong at the back and made several important interceptions for his team.
RM: Cesar Azpilicueta – 7/10
The Spanish full-back didn’t do much wrong when defending inside his half. He also created a couple of decent chances in the attacking end of the pitch.
CM: NGolo Kante – 6/10
Kante began the match brightly but was forced off in the 31st minute.
CM: Jorginho – 7/10
The Italian midfield ace kept his calm to score his penalty which ended up making the difference in the game. However, he was also guilty of throwing away possession in the lead-up Iheanacho’s consolation goal in the second half.
LM: Ben Chilwell – 7/10
Chilwell earned possession back a few times for his side. He was even lively going forward.
RAM: Christian Pulisic – 6.5/10
Pulisic began the game positively but somewhat lost his way in the second half. There was no goal for him tonight.
LAM: Mason Mount – 7/10
Mount was always looking to create chances for others around him and even had a couple of shot attempts. However, he didn’t do enough to get himself a goal or an assist.
ST: Timo Werner – 7/10
The German striker caused a lot of problems for the Leicester defenders and was unfortunate to see his goal get chalked off by VAR.
Substitutes:
CM: Mateo Kovacic – 7/10
The Croatia international got stuck in with some crunching tackles and was full of energy in the Leicester half.
CB: Kurt Zouma – N/A
He came on to run the clock down for Chelsea.
ST: Olivier Giroud – N/A
The Frenchman hardly had any time to make an impact.
