Chelsea player ratings: Simply abysmal against Arsenal

N’Golo Kante, Midfield, 5/10

Guilty of giving away the free-kick from which Granit Xhaka was to find the top corner and culpable for being too passive in tracking Bukayo Saka for the third goal, Saturday’s game is certainly not one that Kante will be looking back on fondly. Lethargic at times and ineffective at others, Kante epitomized just how off the pace Chelsea was. With the team still chasing the game late on and considering the Frenchman’s utter lack of contribution on the offensive side of Chelsea’s game, Kante was promptly sacrificed in place of Kai Havertz to round off a rather poor day at the office.

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Mateo Kovacic, Midfield, 4/10

The most ineffective member of Chelsea’s midfield trio, Kovacic was largely a passenger in the middle of the pitch apart from that one moment in the first half when he drew a foul from Pablo Mari following an excellent run. In a game where Chelsea’s midfield was supposed to dominate when accounting for the quality and quantity of players deployed in the middle of the park, Kovacic and Kante just did not seem to care nearly as much as Arsenal’s midfielders did. This is especially unacceptable considering the fact that the players had 4 days of rest since their last game with Kovacic not even in the starting eleven against West Ham. Lampard clearly thought so too with the Croat hooked after the half-time interval in what was a fitting end for a shambolic first-half performance.

Mason Mount, Midfield, 6/10

Together with Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount represented Chelsea’s greatest threat going forward on the day. Constantly driving forward into the opposition box in search of a crossing or goal scoring opportunity, Mount’s immense work rate is something that scoreline and statistics are not able to accurately represent. Having come the closest to fashioning an opening for the away side early in the first half when his brilliant freekick glanced the outside of Bernd Leno’s post, the Englishman also won Chelsea a penalty late on in the game, a penalty which Jorginho would then go on to squander. With new signings such as Werner, Havertz and Ziyech all struggling for either form or fitness, Mount’s consistency when it comes to availability and performance could prove critical in ensuring that Chelsea comes out of the festive period with the maximum number of points.