Chelsea welcomed a struggling Arsenal side at Stamford Bridge for the London Derby and literally helped the north London side in its bid for Champions League qualification. The home side lost in an embarrassing fashion, conceding four goals yet again. An Arsenal side low on confidence, who had lost three games in a row, took the lead in the 13′ as Andreas Christensen’s unbelievable error put Eddie Nketiah one-on-one with Edouard Mendy. However, only four minutes later, Timo Werner brought the Blues back level via a deflected shot.
The Chelsea defense was all over the place on the night, it conceded again just minutes later as Emile Smith Rowe slotted his shot into the bottom right corner of Mendy’s net. Again, the Blues struck back after five minutes as Cesar Azpilicueta, of all the players, made a sublime run in the box to meet with Mason Mount‘s cross to slot past Aaron Ramsdale to make it 2-2. In the second half, Christensen was replaced by Thiago Silva to bring some much-needed stability to the defense, which unfortunately never came.
Another instance of laughable defending from Chelsea gave Nketiah his second goal and helped Arsenal restore its lead, this one it’d never give up. From then onwards, the Blues had all of the possession but there was absolute no creativity from the home side as they couldn’t even create a convincing chance to get on level terms. In added time, the Gunners broke on the counter and Azpilicueta “fouled” Bukayo Saka in the box to give Arsenal a penalty, which was converted by the youngster to seal the game for the Gunners.
Here’s how each Chelsea player fared in an appalling performance at Stamford Bridge:
Edouard Mendy (Goalkeeper): 2/10
This has been the worst month for Mendy in a Chelsea shirt. After an appalling error against Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal, this was another abysmal performance from the Senegalese international. For the first goal, Mendy did all he could by making himself big, but the lack of effort from him to not even dive on the second was disgraceful. Whenever Mendy had the ball at his feet, it felt like a mistake or a miss pass was meant to happen. His lack of ball-playing ability can be a big liability for the team, as seen this month.
Reece James (Right centerback): 5/10
Reece James started as a right centerback on Wednesday after manager Thomas Tuchel spent recent weeks praising the English youngster’s efforts at the position. However, James was not at all effective against the Gunners in that role. He got caught a few times off the ball and he had to chase Arsenal attackers to recover from errors. Other than that, a very quiet game from James.
Andreas Christensen (Centerback): 3/10
Andreas Christensen was unwilling to sign a new contract with Chelsea, but his midweek performance will make the fans think that he should not even be given a new contract offer to begin with. The Danish international never looked comfortable on the ball and his sloppy back pass put Nketiah through to score the opening goal. Even after that, Christensen was astonishingly bad on the ball, taking way too much time and giving possession away in dangerous situations. He was rightly substituted during the halftime for Silva. He’ll be on his way to Barcelona soon.
Malang Sarr (Left centerback): 4/10
The Arsenal match provided the chance for Malang Sarr to grab a rare start. When called upon this season, the French defender has been great. However, Wednesday was not his day. It felt as if he lacked match sharpness. Sarr was getting caught out of his position and he was responsible for the third Arsenal goal as the ball ricocheted off his legs after Silva tried to intercept the pass to Nketiah. Just like the defense, Sarr was all over the place in this forgettable outing.
Cesar Azpilicueta (Right wingback): 5/10
Playing as a right wingback, Cesar Azpilicueta had a very mixed game. The Spaniard was mostly involved in the attacking build-up play for Chelsea and it was the skipper’s brilliant run in the box that helped the hosts equalize in the first half. A brilliant finish at Ramsdale’s near post from an excellent cross from Mount. In the second half, Azpilicueta struggled and it was him giving away the ball which started the play that Nketiah converted for the Gunners’ third goal. In the dying minutes of the game, it was the captain who conceded the penalty by “bringing down” Saka in the box. A very bad day in the office for the veteran—at least at the back.
N’Golo Kante (Central midfielder): 6/10
The French midfielder started the game alongside Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the midfield and looked distinctly average. Kante could not assert his dominance in the midfield like he usually does. He kept getting dispossessed off the ball and it feels as if progressing the ball up the pitch doesn’t suit Kante in the grand scheme of things. Maybe it’s too harsh to say this, but with the recent injuries, it feels like the end for Kante is near.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Central midfielder): 6.5/10
One of the best players on the pitch against Arsenal was Loftus-Cheek. The English midfielder seems to have found his confidence after the manager trusted him in important games against the likes of Real Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals. Loftus-Cheek was full of energy in the midfield, winning the ball and closing down Gunners defenders and midfielders. It was his interception that led to Werner’s opening goal. Even though he was losing the ball in the midfield sometimes, there was no lack of effort from the 26-year-old.
Marcos Alonso (Left wingback): 6.5/10
Marcos Alonso was the most attacking Chelsea player with five shots. Unfortunately, none of them were on target. The Spanish international found himself in good positions to have an effect on the game, but couldn’t do much when it was all said and done. When defending, Saka was all over Alonso and had him on strings due to his lack of pace. Alonso was substituted for Hakim Ziyech in the 80′.
Romelu Lukaku (Right striker): 6/10
Romelu Lukaku came back in the starting line-up against the Gunners, getting the nod in the starting XI for the first time in the Premier League in two months. It couldn’t have gone any worse for the Belgian international. Despite the game being so open in the first half, Lukaku was barely involved in the build-up. His only involvement came in the opening few minutes when he pushed his effort wide. Lukaku, playing up top with Werner in a partnership, tried to string a few passes together with his counterpart, but nothing really came off.
More surprisingly, the club record signing wasn’t even winning the headers, which somewhat shows the lack of effort he’s putting in recently. He was replaced by Kai Havertz in the 60′ after failing to have much of an impact.
Mason Mount (Central attacking midfielder): 6.5/10
Mount made his 100th appearance for the club in the Premier League on Wednesday. Sadly, the day didn’t turn out the way he would have wanted. As always, Mount was up to the task offensively and gave his all, but kind of faded away like every other Chelsea player as the game dragged on. In the first half, Mount provided a sublime assist for Azpilicueta’s goal, which put Chelsea back on level terms. That was as good as it got for the England international. He is now up to 27 direct goal involvements this season, an incredible tally for the youngster.
Timo Werner (Left striker): 7.5/10
Werner continued his rich form by scoring the first goal for the Blues in the game. He was a menace to the Arsenal defense throughout the contest, as well. The German international was very involved in the game, making runs behind the Gunners’ defense and even running with the ball, putting in crosses. As the game went on, the influence of Werner waned off, despite the German having a few half chances to pull Chelsea back in the game. It was not meant to be.
Thiago Silva (Centerback): 5.5/10
Silva came on for Christensen before the restart of the game in the second half to bring some stability to the defense. Unfortunately, that stability never came as the team conceded two goals once again in the second half. For the most part of the second period, the defense looked fine, but that one unlucky play in which Silva’s interception came off from Sarr’s leg and bounced to Nketiah’s feet for the third goal killed the confidence of the Chelsea players. After that, the defence was bound to be wide open with all the players committed forward.
Silva provided a calming sense, but there was simply nothing he could do about the errors committed by other individuals on the evening. It would’ve been better to give him a complete night off as there are some massive fixtures coming up in the near future.
Kai Havertz (Right striker): 6/10
Havertz came on for Lukaku in the 60′. He had very little to no effect on the game as a whole as the Gunners were pretty much sitting all 11 men behind the ball at that point. Playing the final 35 minutes, the German international had zero shots, which was a clear indication that neither he nor the team created any chances in the second half to get back in the game. Luckily, he’ll be back into the starting XI soon enough after Lukaku’s poor performance on Wednesday.
Hakim Ziyech (Right winger): N/A
Hakim Ziyech came on for Marcos Alonso in the 80′ in the hope that he would be able to muster up a moment of magic with his incredible left foot. Sadly, he could not create that one chance and failed to have an impact on the game overall. To be fair to the Moroccan, it was asking a lot for him to leave his mark on the game with less than 20 minutes on the pitch.
What rating would you give to each of the players? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter!