Chelsea avenged their EFL Cup exit with a comfortable win over West Ham at the London Stadium.
A slow start from the Blues saw the Hammers growing into the game, before Eden Hazard’s goal after a vicious break saw Antonio Conte’s men take the lead.
Chelsea then launched a series of devastating raids which were unlucky not to find the goal, before eventually forcing in a second from a scrappy corner which ended up going in off Diego Costa’s knee.
Here are our ratings from today’s featured Chelsea players…
Starting Eleven:
Thibaut Courtois – 7 – Well protected by his back line from open play and showed exceptional use of his height to repeatedly clear corners and crosses into the 6 yard box.
Cesar Azpilicueta – 7 – Made numerous timely interventions and did exceptionally well to not suffer in repeated aerial attacks from West Ham.
David Luiz – 7 – Less commanding in possession than usual but got his head to plenty of balls and stepped out exceptionally well in the first half to shut down a dangerous West Gam move.
Gary Cahill – 7 – Dominant in the air and confident on the ground. Barely troubled by having his shirt removed in the first half.
Victor Moses – 6 – Another player who did well to help shut the game down late on and caused issues with some strong runs, although he was troubled by the tricky Robert Snodgrass on occasion defensively.
N’Golo Kante – 9 – Absolutely sensational in midfield, showing all of his usual speed and tenacity to shut down West Ham’s creative players to the point that they almost gave up.
Cesc Fabregas – 7 – A quiet first half, but created more in the second half and controlled the ball well as the Blues squeezed the life out of the game late on.
Marcos Alonso – 7 – Solid defensively but failed to provide much attacking impetus on the left.
Pedro – 8 – Hazard’s partner in crime on the counter threatened West Ham constantly and got a wonderful assist for the opening goal.
Diego Costa – 7 – Very quiet in the first half, but improved later on and got a lucky goal. Was denied a second only by a smart stop from Darren Randolph.
Eden Hazard – 9 – Burst into life after a quiet opening twenty minutes and showed some of his finest skills including a
