Chelsea at Manchester City player ratings: Lackluster across the board

Chelsea faced Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium to try and reduce the 10-point gap between the two sides, but a tame and uninspiring display saw the hosts beat the Blues 1-0. Everyone thought that Chelsea would play much more attacking football having been so poor in the September fixture, but that was far from the reality. The visitors sat back and invited the pressure from the Man City attackers. Hakim Ziyech had multiple chances to play Romelu Lukaku through but the Moroccan international misplaced even the simplest of passes. The team performance from the Chelsea attack was so bad that the it didn’t even register a shot in the first 45 minutes. Thanks to Kepa Arrizabalaga, the first half ended without any goals.

After some stern words from the manager, the Blues started the second half on the front foot and should have even taken the lead as Mateo Kovacic played Lukaku through only for his effort to be saved by Ederson. As the game went on though, the host asserted its dominance again and it took a world class strike from Kevin De Bruyne in the 70′ to give Man City the lead. This forced the Blues to attack more, but the wastefulness and lack of drive to win every second ball meant that Chelsea dropped more points. The Blues are now in danger of dropping out of the top four if they aren’t careful in their upcoming fixtures.

Here’s how each player fared in an uninspiring performance against league leader Man City:

Kepa Arrizabalaga (Goalkeeper): 7.5/10

The best Chelsea player on the pitch was Arrizabalaga and that says a lot about the team’s performance. Arrizabalaga was the only goalkeeper that was involved in the game and made some very important saves to keep the Blues in the game. The Spaniard looked confident between the sticks and made the majority of his saves in the first half, the best of which came when he saved a one-on-one effort from Jack Grealish. In the second half, Arrizabalaga had very little to do. He was unfortunately beaten by a world class effort from De Bruyne to win the game.

Antonio Rudiger (Right centerback): 7/10

One of the better players on Saturday was Antonio Rudiger. The German centerback was solid throughout the game, especially in the first half, nullifying all the attacking threats posed by the likes of Grealish and De Bruyne. Keeping in mind the fact that he was playing on the right side of the defense, the German international also had to help out Cesar Azpilicueta as the Spaniard lacked the pace to compete with Grealish.

Thiago Silva (Centerback): 6.5/10

Thiago Silva was recalled to the starting line-up and looked solid as always. As evidenced by the manager’s comments, the Brazilian veteran was rushed back from injury. However, one could hardly tell as Silva dealt with a whole host of Man City pressure and came out unfazed.

Malang Sarr (Left centerback): 7/10

Malang Sarr started Saturday’s game in place of Andreas Christensen, who was out with COVID, following a string of impressive performances from the Frenchman. Sarr was one of many players who had a shaky start to the game. In the first half, the former Nice defender was below average with his passing. He kept giving away possession in dangerous positions, which put the defensive line under some unwanted pressure. In the second half, Sarr grew into the game and eliminated most of his sloppy play.