Chelsea player ratings: Tomori and Kovacic lead on a trying European night

Heading into the last 20 minutes of the game, a scoreless draw looked an uncomfortably deserved outcome. Within a few minutes, Rodrigo Moreno denied even that to a deflated Chelsea.

Chelsea’s quest for a clean sheet extends into the Champions League now, as a wildly free header from Rodrigo Moreno put Valencia ahead at Stamford Bridge. The Blues had a handful of starters making their Champions League debut, and they will be eager to replace their memories of the competition with better subsequent performances and, of course, wins.

Kepa Arrizabalaga, Goalkeeper: 6.5

Do we really have to go through this pro forma routine again? Yes, so here we go. Kepa Arrizabalaga had a very quiet night between Chelsea’s posts. He faced only two shots all night as his teammates kept most of the run of play well away from him. But on one of those shots came off a set piece (just dig the cliche ever deeper) in which Arrizabalaga was completely abandoned by his teammates, who left a player entirely unmarked.

Arrizabalaga might ask to start against Grimsby Town just to break his clean sheet duck for the season (apologies if you believe in jinxes and the like).

Kurt Zouma, Centre back: 6.5

Zouma played almost precisely to standards: no more, no less. Given his start to the season, this is a positive development. Of the centre backs, he will most likely be left out upon Antonio Rudiger’s return or a return to a four-man defence, just as there was little surprise he made way for Olivier Giroud when Frank Lampard went in search of a goal in the 73′.

Andreas Christensen, Centre back: 7

Christensen is the best player Chelsea have to play as the deep, central centre back in the three-man back line.

This position puts Christensen in a supporting and covering role for the other centre backs, which makes the most out of his positioning, ball recovery skills and mobility while minimizing reliance on his limited physicality and tackling. Even so, one of Christensen’s best skills is his willingness to always go into a battle, in the air or on the ground, despite any physical disadvantage relative to the opponent. About 20 minutes into the game Christensen charged into a sliding tackle to clear the ball near the left touchline. It was a gutsy, well-timed play that required him to read the play, get their early and go fully into the tackle, otherwise the player and the ball could easily go past him.

Christensen’s play in the 3-4-3 is another argument in favour of this formation, now that Chelsea are back in the business of trying to find the right formation with the right positions for the players they have

Fikayo Tomori, Centre back: 7.5

At the beginning of August, Fikayo Tomori looked like he would be fifth on the centre back depth chart, which helped along rumours of a loan to Everton. Then David Luiz graced us all with his exit, and Tomori moved up to fourth – enough to stay with the squad.

After the last few games, Tomori has leap-frogged Christensen and Zouma and may be challenging Antonio Rudiger for prime of place among centre backs. At the very least, he is becoming the presumptive favourite to partner the German.

Tomori’s ability to track the play as it develops in front of him and inject himself at just the right moment is the key to his control on the left side. He knows just where and when to get involved, and then executes his defensive actions perfectly. Perhaps full of confidence from his goal against Wolves, at one point in the first half he received the ball just inside Valencia’s half and dribbled through their box and almost to the touchline.

Last season he was a bit mistake prone at Derby County, but so was Andreas Christensen at Chelsea. If these two can iron out those lapses, Rudiger’s return will seal up the back-line, hopefully with all three on the pitch.