Chelsea player ratings: Kepa, Barkley strong seconds behind Billy Gilmour
By George Perry
Willian, Right wing: 7.5
A strange twist to Frank Lampard’s tactics was having Willian on the same side as Cesar Azpilicueta, with Pedro and Marcos Alonso on the other. On paper, this made Chelsea’s right much more defensively sound than the left. Perhaps because Azpilicueta is so reliable on his own, Willian spent more time nearer Olivier Giroud while Pedro and Alonso worked closely together on the other side. Willian and Giroud were the only players without a defensive action on the day.
Willian was a bit overshadowed by his teammates’ performances. But like Azpilicueta, he had the kind of understated performance that blends in because it is so reliable.
Olivier Giroud, Striker: 7
Olivier Giroud gave Kepa Arrizabalaga someone to aim at on his goal kicks and long balls. Unfortunately, Virgil van Dijk won many more of those balls than Giroud did.
Van Dijk dominated Giroud in the air for the first hour of the game. But once Chelsea took a 2-0 lead, Van Dijk had to push further up, leaving Joe Gomez to guard Giroud. This battle was much more in Giroud’s favour. The Frenchman enjoyed about 15-20 minutes, then, before the 200 minutes he’s played in the last 10 days started to take its toll on his 33 years. Giroud was visibly exhausted when he came off in the 90′.
Frank Lampard has a difficult call on Saturday against Everton. Olivier Giroud has been fantastic, but is clearly fatigued. Does he start Giroud and see how long he lasts, hopefully to the hour mark with a lead, or does he hope that the recent tales of redemption will include Michy Batshuayi?
Pedro, Left wing: 8.5
Pedro led Chelsea in both tackles (five) and interceptions (four). He and Alonso ended up making a remarkably tight defensive tandem on the left, and were just as productive together on offence.
light. Chelsea's most under-appreciated. Does the Curse of Carneiro explain these injuries?
Pedro’s supporting play was better overall than his direct offensive play. His touch let him down a few times in the first half, but how he ran off the striker and drew Liverpool defenders out of position helped the Blues get more chances from the centre of the pitch.
He had the best chance to put Chelsea up 3-0 in the second half, but he checked over his shoulder to look for defenders, which was just enough to take his attention away from the goalkeeper. He tried to go through Adrian’s legs rather than chip the ball over him or go around him, a la Fernando Torres.
But on Ross Barkley’s goal, Pedro’s run out to the right pulled one defender away from Barkley and towards him, and forced Virgil van Dijk to back off just a bit more to cover a pass. This gave Barkley enough time and space for his shot.
Next. Chelsea beating Liverpool is great, but it left a lot of questions. dark
The completeness of his game was more what we would expect from Willian than him. Not that Lampard has many options among his wingers right now, but Pedro is another player who earned a string of starts on this performance and will give the returning youth something to work towards when they return.