Chelsea ratings: Antonio Rudiger does what the forwards apparently can’t

Chelsea owe their point at the King Power Stadium to Antonio Rudiger. Since the defence provided the offence, player ratings decline from back-to-front.

Chelsea go into the “winter break” with all the same problems as before the transfer window, which makes sense since they did nothing in the transfer window other than sell Tariq Lamptey. But they now have more questions surrounding the squad, most of which are about what messages Frank Lampard is trying to send, and to whom?

Willy Caballero, Goalkeeper: 5.5

Willy Caballero was the most surprising name on the teamsheet for this game. He may have been the most surprising starter across all of Europe. Not too much of his performance was a surprise, though.

He misplaced several passes within Chelsea’s defensive third, usually putting them just behind Antonio Rudiger. Caballero was more confident and aggressive in coming out to claim crosses and corners than Kepa Arrizabalaga, so he was a step up in that aspect of goalkeeping: he helped smother one usual route to the Blues’ goal.

Leicester’s second goal, though, was the sort of team calamity Chelsea have made their trademark this season – and Caballero was at the root of it. There was no reason for him to come to the far edge of his box along the goal line to play the ball. That is an absolutely unthreatening area, he had several defenders plus himself capable of handling a cross and a defender coming back to prevent the Leicester player from dribbling towards goal. Several Chelsea defenders should have intercepted the ensuing cross, just as Caballero should have been able to cover his right post, if he hadn’t gone out on an adventure to his left.

Exit question: Did Frank Lampard prove whatever point he was trying to prove to whomever by starting Caballero?

Reece James, Right back: 6

Several of my colleagues and I have said over the course of the season that Reece James is an excellent player who knows just how excellent he is, to his and Chelsea’s detriment. He had several such moments at King Power Stadium, balancing out his impeccable crosses in the first half with casual defending and missed coverage in the second, separate from Leicester’s goals.

James understandably distrusted Jorginho’s marking of Youri Tielemans as Tielemans brought the ball up the centre, so James stood his ground in front of the Belgian. But this meant he lost track (if he ever had awareness) of Harvey Barnes coming down Chelsea’s right.

He scrambled to recover, but then lost his footing when Barnes cut back inside. Leicester’s pitch was unusually slippery, but James has several times this season shown himself vulnerable to a quick cut inside to his left. He may have been able to better hold his positioning and his verticality had he not had to sprint back to cover the runner dribbling through his domain.

Andreas Christensen, Centre back: 7

Jamie Vardy is raw aggression and Andreas Christensen is… not. But Christensen’s defending was a large part of Jamie Vardy having only one shot on goal. Christensen’s positioning and close coverage of Vardy took away Leicester’s top scorer and their usual route to take the play into the box. He made a few sloppy errors in the second half which nearly cost Chelsea, but overall this was a quietly commanding performance.

Antonio Rudiger, Centre back: 7.5

Chelsea had two goals from centrebacks all season before this game, both from Fikayo Tomori. Now they have four via Antonio Rudiger, who matched his career-high single-season total of two goals in the space of 25 minutes.

Rudiger was also Chelsea’s most active passer, not only starting the play (after getting himself and the ball in a better position than whatever Caballero did with it) but following the play into Leicester’s half.

Cesar Azpilicueta, Left back: 7

Reece James rightly deserves all the praise he receives for his crosses, but Cesar Azpilicueta certainly warrants more than he ever gets (from anyone but us, that is). Chelsea’s forwards receive quality service from both James and Azpilicueta, which is just about the worst thing Marcos Alonso would want to hear. James can make a wider variety of passes, but Azpilicueta does not need much time and space to create something himself, in addition to his usual everything on defence.