Chelsea squeaked out a 2-1 win away at Leicester to see their climb up the table continue.
An evenly contested opening half an hour saw both sides getting stuck in and creating chances without either of them really testing each other’s keepers. Then with half time approaching, Cesar Azpilicueta popped a ball in to Alvaro Morata who headed home.
They started the second half well, and N’Golo Kante had soon doubled their lead with a long range effort. From there it seemed simply a matter of keeping the game under control and looking to increase their advantage. But Leicester pulled one back not long after, and made what could have been a walk in the park an exciting finale.
Here are our ratings from today’s featured Chelsea players…
FIN DEL JUEGO: LEICESTER 1-2 CHELSEA! 🙌 #CFCes pic.twitter.com/Jhwku6NJrN
— Chelsea FC en español (@ChelseaFC_Sp) September 9, 2017
Starting Eleven:
Thibaut Courtois – 7 – Calm under pressure whenever pressed high up by Leicester forwards, which was a lot early on. Made a superb save, staying big to deny Islam Slimani. Blotted his copybook by giving the penalty away unnecessarily with a lunge on Jamie Vardy.
Cesar Azpilicueta – 7 – Immaculate at the back, and then stepped up to provide the quality ball that the rest of his teammates were failing to provide their forward.
David Luiz – 7 – Defended well but not his usual commanding self pushing foward as Leicester threatened constantly and forced him deep.
Antonio Rudiger – 7 – Has improved with every game in Blue, competed well in the physical battle and matching Mahrez for pace when he ran at him.
Victor Moses – 6 – Worked hard and got stuck in but his crossing disappointed once again. Removed for debutant Davide Zappacosta.
N’Golo Kante – 8 – Not his best first half as he found himself robbed after an indecisive moment on the edge of the Leicester box. But the Frenchman more than made up for it early in the second period, finding himself in plenty of space on the edge of the box before threading the ball into the bottom corner. Was the key man for Chelsea as they looked to hold on to their lead early on, covering huge amounts of ground.
Tiemoue Bakayoko – 6 – Provided Chelsea’s first real threat with a surging run from midfield and battled with Wilfred Ndidi throughout, showing intelligence and impressive physical force up and down the pitch. Passing could have been better.
Cesc Fabregas – 7 – Played a superb early ball which almost saw Morata and generally passed well, although his corners in the first half left a lot to be desired. Couldn’t play the key pass to unlock the game and was perhaps a little quiet in the second half.
Marcos Alonso – 7 – Kept up with the physical battle and got forward constantly to force Leicester deep. Played a couple of great cutbacks that could easily have been snapped up by the forwards.
Pedro – 6 – Buzzed around well between the lines making space for his teammates.However his end product was poor and he was removed for Willian after an hour.
Alvaro Morata- 7 – Quiet in the first half following an early snap shot. Then with a few minutes before half time he appeared from nowhere to send a superb header beyond Schmeichel. Made several important defensive headers as Leicester pushed for an equaliser.
Substitutes:
Eden Hazard – 7 – Was straight into the action from the moment he was introduced with 20 minutes to go. Wasn’t at 100% but still created a huge amount in the time he was on.
Willian – 6 – Worked hard and used the ball smartly but unable to do damage where it counted in the final third. Almost scored with a textbook cut-in curler and should have ended the game when he hit a shot straight at Schmeichel.
Davide Zappacosta – 6 – Didn’t really have time to make a huge impact, although he should have scored the third when he was let down by a poor first touch.
