Chelsea player ratings: Those who needed to, didn’t; those who didn’t, did

Callum Hudson-Odoi, Right wing: 9.5

This was Callum Hudson-Odoi at his finest. His dribbling, passing, shooting (going near post for the goal? Excellent.) and even tracking back were all superb. The speed and regularity with which he ran back to help Reece James on defence and involve himself in the defensive work until Chelsea transitioned into attack shows that he has learned as much from watching Willian as he has from listening to Frank Lampard.

Now the task for Lampard is to weigh Hudson-Odoi’s performance against the opponent, and decide what comes next. Is a game like this against a Championship B side worth more appearances and starts in the Premier League? Or could a loan be in his future so he can do things like this against better opponents every week for the next four months, and then do it twice a week at Chelsea starting next season?

Michy Batshuayi, Striker: 4

Remember what we said about Reece James, and if he can’t make a striker look good? Remember what we said about Ross Barkley and the tension between match sharpness and minimum standards?

Multiply both of those by some factor and each other and we get to Michy Batshuayi.

James put three perfect crosses that only needed Michy Batshuayi to head towards goal, and they went anywhere but. Late in the game he went for an acrobatic shot with his foot when a simple header may have done the trick. Earlier in the game Chelsea were on the counterattack with Pedro dribbling towards the centre of Nottingham Forest’s box. Ross Barkley was further to the left, with Batshuayi between him and Pedro. The usual run would have been around to the right of Pedro to stretch the defence and offer a pass option in space. Instead, Batshuayi ran in front of Pedro, leaving Pedro with no passing options and the Spaniard’s shot went off Batshuayi’s heel.

Was he trying to do too much? Was he just rusty? Could an even more rusty Olivier Giroud have done any better? That’s for Frank Lampard to decide. That Lampard did not even have Giroud warm up tells you everything you need to know about their relationship and the inevitable this month. Unless Lampard was ordered not to cup-tie Giroud, there’s no reason not to let Giroud clear out the cobwebs and try his forehead against James’ crosses.

Whatever Frank Lampard sees from his non-Tammy Abraham strikers in training must be pretty damning, but he’s not going to see anything better from them in games unless they have more games to get performances like this out of the way.

Pedro, Winger: 7.5

Pedro has played about as little as those others in this starting XI, but he did not show it as much and was able to do plenty of Pedro things throughout the game. He has that timeless quality about him, which is remarkable since his style of play should be more affected by age than most players’.

Pedro’s movement and give-and-go with Michy Batshuayi in the build-up to Callum Hudson-Odoi’s goal was a perfect example. Pedro dribbled in diagonally from the left, accelerated across the top of the box, played the one-two with Batshuayi’s back to goal and then sent an angled pass for Hudson-Odoi to run onto.

The Spaniard showed in this sequence that there are other ways to switch the play than long arcing passes. Chelsea are very good at those passes, but they could use other options, particularly since Pedro could have taken a curling shot from the top of the box. That sequence could have ended in a goal in several ways, and that’s the value of someone like him.

For the second year in a row, the Premier League’s most decorated player may have said his farewell at Stamford Bridge on January 5 towards the end of an FA Cup tie against Nottingham Forest. His substitution in the 75′ wasn’t as obvious and emotional as Cesc Fabregas’s last season, but it had much the same quality.

Wherever he goes will be lucky to have him, and a few twists and turns of fate around Chelsea FC could have seen him finish the season in west London. But that’s life and that’s football, especially when football is your life.