Chelsea ground out a hard fought victory against Manchester United at Wembley to win the FA Cup.
The game started cagily and it look a while for both teams to grow into the game, but Chelsea looked the better team early on as they began to dominate the middle of the pitch.
They got their rewards when Cesc Fabregas slid a ball through for Eden Hazard, who was brought down by Phil Jones, and dusted himself down before slotting the penalty home.
Manchester United battled their way back into the game after that, with the team in red controlling the possession more as half time drew arrived.
The second half saw United press more and more and Chelsea hit them a few times on the break, but the Blues were solid in defence into the final few minutes. They could have had a goal through Marcos Alonso who was one on one, or a penalty after the ball hit Jones’ arm, but in the end one goal was enough to do it.
Here are our ratings from today’s featured Chelsea players…
Starting Eleven:
Thibaut Courtois – 6 – Not troubled in the first period, he made a great punch and then a save at the start of the second.
Cesar Azpilicueta – 8 – Superb marshalling an extremely organised and solid back three.
Gary Cahill – 8 – Extremely solid and never looked stretched even as the Blues suffered under a lot of Red pressure.
Antonio Rudiger- 9 – Good interventions in the first half. Looked composed. In the second half was so defensively decisive, stepping in to break up attack after attack without fear.
Victor Moses- 7 – Made some great attacking runs down the right that his teammates couldn’t find and defended smartly. Could have been booked a couple of times
Tiemoue Bakayoko – 7 –A bright first half but then a bit of a dip in the second period. Still a good game overall.
Cesc Fabregas – 6 – Superb pass through to Hazard sprung the game open. However despite that and a few clever passes on the break his ball retention was pretty poor and he almost cost his team a goal.
Marcos Alonso – 7 – Defensively very solid, but should have scored when played in at the
N’Golo Kante – 10 – What can you say about this man? One of his best every performances.
Olivier Giroud- 7 – Battled away up front and won lots of flick-ons against the United defenders. A really solid effort which should have been rewarded with a goal.
Eden Hazard – 8 – Great run followed by a great penalty to open the scoring. Some brilliant moments but also could have ended the game with more intelligence on some of his counters.
Substitutes:
Alvaro Morata- 6 – Came on to run around for the last few minues.
Willian – 6 – Did some good work by the corner flag wasting time.
