Chelsea player ratings: Disappointing once again against Everton

A struggling Everton side came away with a hard-fought point from Stamford Bridge as Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw against the Merseyside team. This game summarized the season of the London side, dominant but lack of ruthlessness in front of goal has surely ended their title challenge.

It was easy to figure out which of the two teams came to play during the first half as Everton only had two attempts on goal compared to Chelsea’s 13. The Blues should have taken the lead as early as the opening minutes as Reece James couldn’t finish a one on one with Jordan Pickford. Even after that, the hosts continued to create chance after chance, best of which fell to Mason Mount who failed to score from four yards out.

The second half started the same with the hosts dominating the ball but in the 70th minute, Mason Mount gave Chelsea a much deserving lead. But that lead only lasted for four minutes as Jarred Branthwaite equalized against the run of play thanks to some woeful defending from Saul Niguez. From that point on the game was played end to end and the Blues could not find a winner, dropping yet another two points which they should never have done.

Here’s how each Chelsea player fared in another disappointing outing against Everton:

Edouard Mendy (Goalkeeper): 6/10

Edouard Mendy had nothing to do till the 40th-minute mark when Everton had their first shot on target. For the majority of the game, the Senegalese international was a passenger watching the game but ended up conceding in the 74th minute at his near post. Maybe Mendy should have done better in covering his near post area.

Cesar Azpilicueta (Centerback): 6/10

Cesar Azpilicueta felt very anonymous today. In the whole game, the Spaniard was neither involved in the attacking half of the play nor the defending side of the play. The defender was then substituted for Trevoh Chalobah in the 79th minute.

Thiago Silva (Centerback): 7/10

A passenger in the first half but the Brazilian veteran came to life in the second half, breaking down all of the Everton attacks and even winning the one on ones. Silva’s brilliantly timed tackle on Doucoure started Chelsea’s counter-attack which gave Chelsea the lead.

Antonio Rudiger (Centerback): 6.5/10

Antonio Rudiger played almost the entirety of the first half in Everton’s half as their attackers posed no threat at all in the first half. The German centerback should have also had an assist to his name but a close-range save from Pickford denied that. In the second half as the game opened up more, Rudiger had a bit more defending to do and should have done better in marking Branthwaite who scored the equalizer.