Chelsea player ratings: Nail-biter at Selhurst, Zouma saves season
Chelsea’s match against Crystal Palace was a lot more eventful than it should have been, how did each player perform on an individual level?
And breathe. Chelsea’s trip to Selhurst Park had a lot more drama than originally anticipated. The game featured a bit of everything. From the aforementioned emotions to defensive blunders, missed opportunities and a tackle for the ages, this match did not disappoint.
The Blues scored three times to capture all three points and move in to third place, all while debuting their new away kits with Three as the title sponsor. The number has been an overarching theme of the restart, luckily there were no threes on the ratings sheet this time around. Here are the player ratings from the match in south London:
Kepa Arrizabalaga (Goalkeeper): 6.5
Arrizabalaga made a heroic fingertip save towards the end of the match, but failed to do much else. Wilfried Zaha’s wonder-goal in the first half was a thing of beauty, but one has to question the goalkeeper’s abilities after letting in a goal from that distance. He made a mistake leading to a decent look for Crystal Palace in the opening few minutes, as well. Arrizabalaga wasn’t called upon many other times; he looked shaky at best. Fingers crossed the miraculous save instills a bit of confidence in Chelsea’s first-choice keeper as the season comes to a close.
Reece James (Right back): 6.5
Reece James followed up a particularly good outing last match with a shaky affair. His inexperience and lack of awareness were on display for the world to see as he gave away the ball leading to Palace’s opener. He settled in for most of the second half before Zaha exposed his positional ineptitude. James showed us all that we may have jumped the gun calling for him to be a regular starter, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t Frank Lampard’s right back for the next decade.
Andreas Christensen (Centerback): 4
Woeful.
Kurt Zouma (Centerback): 9
Zouma gets my nod for Man of the Match for single-handedly saving Chelsea’s Champions League hopes. When the right side of the defense fell asleep in the 95′, the Frenchman came to the rescue. Zouma made a risky—but three-point saving—tackle that will surely earn him a starting spot for the rest of the season. If that’s not enough to justify his rating, he seems to get his head on any ball in the air; easing the minds of Chelsea fans around the globe.
Cesar Azpilicueta (Left back): 7.5
Azpilicueta played a large part in keeping Zaha relatively quiet in the first half. He and Zouma locked down the left side of the back-line. The captain had little to do going forward, but it was another solid performance from one of Chelsea’s best anyhow.