Chelsea travelled to Leicester today in the hopes of picking up where they left off before the international break. After a shock loss to Burnley on the opening day, Chelsea had regained their form and beat Tottenham Hotspur and Everton.
Chelsea were also able to welcome back last season’s star man Eden Hazard who had been sidelined with an injury that saw him miss Chelsea’s first three league games. He started on the bench.
Deadline day signings Danny Drinkwater and Davide Zappacosta both started on the bench for Chelsea. Garry Cahill was still serving a three match ban that he picked up at Burnley. So, he missed today’s game.
Chelsea were decent in the first 45 but by no means impressive. They did cause Leicester a few problems. But sloppy play from Kante could have easily seen them 1-0 down before Morata opened the scoring for the Blues.
Chelsea managed to double their lead in the second half before conceding one via a penalty. The second half was very scrappy and Chelsea looked far from their best. Antonio Conte will just be glad off the win though as Chelsea now have a very busy schedule over the next month.
Here are the Chelsea player ratings from their scrappy win over Leicester.
Thibaut Courtois: 6 /10
Great save on 39 minutes to deny Slimani. Courtois then became the villain in the second half when he fouled Vardy somewhat unnecessarily on 60 minutes giving Leicester a penalty which they subsequently converted.
David Luiz: 7/10
Quiet first half for the Brazilian keeping Vardy and Slimani mostly quiet.
A great move started by Luiz on 67 minutes led to the Brazilian being on the end of a volley in the Leicester box. However, he hit it over.
Didn’t do a lot wrong in today’s game and wasn’t involved in Leicester penalty incident.
Antonio Rudiger: 7/10
Rudiger had a quiet first half keeping Leicester at bay. The German set up Kante for his goal in the second half but Kante did most of the work in that situation.
Like Luiz, Rudiger didn’t do much wrong today and managed to keep the Foxes quiet apart from their penalty which didn’t come from Rudiger.
Cesar Azpilicueta: 7.5/10
Excellent cross on 41 minutes to set up Morata for Chelsea’s first goal. The Spaniard came forward from defence several times and Leicester struggled to deal with him.
He did put in the tackle that led to Vardy gathering the ball and Courtois fouling him for a penalty. However, if Cesar had not tackled Gray he could have scored or set up Vardy.
Victor Moses: 6/10
Moses wasn’t great in the first half. Especially going forward, his delivery into the Leicester box on a number of occasions was poor.
His second half performance was slightly better even though he committed a few fouls that could have cost Chelsea. Moses was then replaced by new signing Zappacosta.
Tiemoue Bakayoko: 7/10
Burst forward from midfield on several occasions using his pace and power causing the Foxes problems. He also tracked back very well and put in a number of key tackles.
N’Golo Kante: 6.5/10
Burst into Leicester box on 33 minutes to set up Morata. But the Spaniard’s shot was blocked. Kante then uncharacteristically lost the ball on 39 minutes leading to a Leicester counter attack.
Kante then gave Chelsea a 2-0 lead with a 40-yard shot that rolled across the floor and landed in the bottom corner.
Overall a good performance from the French man, apart from giving the ball away in the first half.
Marcos Alonso: 5.5/10
Alonso much like Moses was decent defensively in the first 45 minutes. However, his delivery into the box could have also done with some work.
Alonso also didn’t look too sharp in the second half and this lead to him giving the ball away several times. Alonso did put in a good cross for Morata whose header hit Maguire’s hand. But apart from that, this was a poor performance from Alonso compared to his usual high standards.
Cesc Fabregas: 6.5 /10
Fabregas took up a slightly different role at right wing today to start the game. He did not start too well putting in a few poor balls. But he put a superb ball over the top for Morata on 10 minutes who failed to convert.
Given Fabregas was out of position he did quite well and created a few dangerous chances for Chelsea before being subbed off in the 78th minute.
Pedro: 5.5/10
Pedro had a very quiet performance for Chelsea today causing very few problems for Leicester. He was replaced by William on 63 minutes. A change which probably should have come sooner.
Alvaro Morata: 7.5/10
Morata was played through by Fabregas on 10 minutes. But he failed to control it and should have done better. Morata had plenty of chances through the game though. He got on the end of Azpilicueta cross on 41 minutes and headed in a superb goal.
He could of then either had a second or got Chelsea a penalty in the second half when his header was blocked by Maguire’s hand. But the ref gave nothing. Overall, good performance from Morata once again.
Substitutes
Willian: 6/10 (63rd minute)
Caused Leicester’s defence some problems when he came on. Checked inside on the 86th minute and fired a shot just over. He also had another chance in injury time when he was played through by Hazard but he failed to score again.
Zappacosta: 6.5 /10 (74th minute)
Good chance in the 80th minute to win the game for Chelsea. However, Zappacosta put his shot wide. The Italian looked brighter than his counterpart Moses putting in a few decent crosses in the box. Given Moses average performance and how bright Zappacosta looked when he came on, he will likely start Chelsea’s next game.
Eden Hazard: 6.5/10 (78th minute)
Hazard linked up with Chelsea’s new signing Zappacosta to kill the game off in the 80th minute but the Italian shot wide. Hazard then played Willian through in injury time. Once again though Willian missed.
Given this was Hazard’s first game back for Chelsea he looked quite sharp and created two good chances for Chelsea in the short time he was on. Chelsea fans will be very glad to see him back given Pedro’s poor show today.
