Chelsea vs Newcastle player ratings: Havertz’s goal separates the sides
Chelsea earned another crucial win against Newcastle, further solidifying its third place claims in the Premier League table. The Blues did not have a good game save for some brilliant moments from Hakim Ziyech, Jorginho and Kai Havertz though, so taking three points on the day is a huge victory in the grand scheme of things. It was a win at the end of the day, but there were some seriously poor performances at Stamford Bridge on Sunday indeed.
Here’s how The Pride of London believes the players fared against Eddie Howe’s men:
Edouard Mendy (Goalkeeper): 7/10
Edouard Mendy had a mixed bag. On one hand, he made a memorable save for a shot he didn’t have much time to see. But on the other hand, he made some questionable distribution decisions that put Chelsea under instant pressure. Unforced errors can be killer. The Blues had the lion’s share of possession but Newcastle still nearly found a goal, partly credit to Mendy’s poor distribution and due to Chelsea’s four-centerback makeshift defense. Mendy’s save ultimately saw the Blues hold on to the clean sheet, so he deserves credit for that. He’ll have to watch it from here on out so he doesn’t make many more unforced errors though.
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Trevoh Chalobah (Right back): 7/10
Trevoh Chalobah got away with one in the incident where he pulled and nearly ripped Bruno Guimaraes’ shirt. He generally played well, though he was guilty of a few out-of-position moments. Chelsea needed to manage the game for long enough so that a moment of brilliance decided it. Chalobah played his role in doing that. His passing was less than satisfactory, as a 79 percent accuracy is not good for a centerback in a game where his team had a majority of the ball. He did win a majority of his duels though. Chalobah also lost the ball 19 times, which was poor. In addition to the passing accuracy, that can likely be explained by the fact that the youngster played relatively out of position as a right fullback.
Andreas Christensen (Centerback): 7.5/10
Andreas Christensen was particularly—and uncharacteristically—slow with his passing. This wouldn’t have been an issue if he spent that much time measuring up cross-field passes and through balls, but he’d often spend so much time with his foot on the ball only to pass it to his centerback partner. Christensen attempted eight long balls though and still had a 97 percent total passing accuracy. Impressive. Admittedly, his ball retention was superb.
Antonio Rudiger (Centerback): 6.5/10
Antonio Rudiger was the guiltiest of the “foot on the ball for long only to make a five-yard pass” routine. He attempted nearly as many long balls as his centerback partner, but didn’t even complete 50 percent of them. They were often overhit. Rudiger was one of the few defensive players who drove into the space Newcastle afforded Chelsea when in possession though. He did lose the ball 13 times, which is poor for a centerback.
Malang Sarr (Left back): 6/10
Malang Sarr was the only one in the back line that wasn’t painfully slow in his passing decisions. Other than that, Sarr didn’t do many things right. He won just one out of five duels and making only two defensive actions all game is pretty bad when you consider some forwards made more.