Chelsea FC could only manage a draw with Swansea City in their first game of the 2015/16 Premier League Campaign. In what was an entertaining affair, Thibaut Courtois was sent off and left the Blues to fight with 10 men for the majority of the second half. To their credit, the Swans were impressive and took advantage of a poor Chelsea showing. With that in mind, let’s do the Chelsea player ratings!
RELATED: The Match Report – 10-Man Chelsea FC Draw 2-2 With Swansea City
It’s on a scale of 1-10 with 10 representing Lionel Messi, and 1 being Fernando Torres. Players who come on after 70 minutes do not receive a rating due to a lack of playing time.
Starters
GK Thibaut Courtois: 5
In pre-match warmups Courtois hurt himself and was in doubt for the start of the game. Fortunately he was fit enough to play, and play he did. In classic Courtois fashion he was a brick wall with his lanky arms and long legs. He pulled of a couple of incredible saves and although some may disagree, in my opinion the first goal wasn’t his fault. He was playing so well, but then made a foolish mistake and was sent off. Not the greatest of ways to kick-off the season for the Belgian.
DF Branislav Ivanovic: 5
Looked slow throughout the game and didn’t do much going forward. First game of the year so fitness could be an issue. Swansea kept pounding down the side towards Branislav and kept beating him with their pace.
DF Cesar Azpilicueta: 7
A good game from Dave, but he didn’t bring the attacking presence up on the left side like I had hoped for from him. Not anything special, but not anything awful either. A classic performance.
DF John Terry: 7
A solid game from John, nothing extraordinary. An almost terrible sequence occurred early in the match when he slid into Courtois and almost gifted Swansea a goal.
DF Gary Cahill: 6
The slip and fall on the edge of the box in the 25th minute was the highlight of Cahill’s game. Again he too was solid, but watching Everton right before made me wish it was John Stones playing next to Terry. That probably screwed up my perspective to be fair.
MF Nemanja Matic: 7
A constant bug in the windshield of the Swansea midfielders and forwards. Good to see in the first game of the season that we still have one of the best defensive midfielders in the world.
MF Cesc Fabregas: 6
Played well with what he had. After Courtois was sent off he was forced to play in a much more defensive role than he is built for. Made him look exposed and weak at some points in the second half.
MF Oscar: 8
I really enjoyed Oscar’s performance this afternoon. His first free kick was great and was unfortunate to not have found a Blues player. He was moving well and when he had the ball I felt confident that he would make something of it. His second free kick was even more beautiful. A wonderfully played ball that made its way into the bottom corner. It was so nice to see Oscar convert a free kick from distance. Sadly it was him who ended up being sacrificed after Courtois’ red card and his day ended prematurely.
MF Willian: 7
A nice game from Willian, even though his goal (is it still his goal?) had a tremendous amount of luck attached to it. I really enjoyed the play of Willian, Oscar and Hazard as they frequently switched across the midfield throughout the game. Willian’s control was fantastic. A problem throughout his career was that his speed on the ball would get a tad crazy, but not today. Hopefully a sign for the rest of the season.
MF Eden Hazard: 8
Hazard started his day off with a beautiful little pass into the box for Costa. It was a perfect pass that encapsulated the Belgian’s play. With the roaming going on it was interesting to see Hazard in the middle of the park. His various dribbling moves were also great, although they were often stopped by a cheap foul, as usual.
FW Diego Costa: 6
It was really nice to see the smiling face of Diego Costa playing for Chelsea on opening day. With a clean, newly cut hairdo, the striker was solid throughout. His constant pressure on the back line of Swansea was always threatening, and so was his temper. I would have liked to have seen more control on the ball from Costa, but he was understandably a tad rusty.
Substitutes
Asmir Begovic: 7
Made some nice saves. However, he was under incredible pressure throughout the game once Chelsea were down to 10 men. Should fill in for Courtois more than suitably.
Kurt Zouma: N/R
A solid short performance from the athletic youngster.
Radamel Falcao: N/R
Not enough time to really judge Falcao, had one shot that was easily stopped due to the lack of power behind the ball.