Asmir Begovic – GK
The Bosnian goalkeeper was rarely called upon but when he was he responded admirably. The bulk of the away side’s chances came towards the end of the match but only one of their seven shots was on target. The former-Stoke City goalkeeper would love such an easy game against Arsenal this Saturday. Rating – 6/10
Cesar Azpilicueta – RB
Switched to right back to replace Branislav Ivanovic and looked as comfortable there as he does on the left if not more so. It’s his natural position and when he overlapped he was able to be more effective than when he plays on the left. He had the perfect balance in attacking when needed but didn’t get drawn upfield so much that he left any holes behind him. It makes you wish we could clone him and play him on both sides at the same time. Rating – 8/10
Kurt Zouma – CB
The young French lad was low on confidence after a poor game at the weekend and you could tell that in the first half. Overall between he and Cahill though they managed to keep Eran Zahavi quiet and he’s been pretty potent in front of goal this season. An only noticeable error was with the Israeli’s last chance when he left his man for Azpilicueta to cover and the Spaniard in turn had to leave Nosa Igiebor who should have scored. Rating – 6/10
Gary Cahill – CB
Captain for the night and needs to show he can make that role his own once John Terry retires. His reading of the game was excellent and he was often on hand to cut out any through balls. Could have scored from a corner but for a better-placed header. Rating – 7/10
Baba Rahman – LB
It wasn’t easy for the Ghanaian to make his debut with the team low on confidence and leaking goals like a colander. His first half performance had as many impressive moments as errors but as the match went on he grew in confidence, especially on the overlap where he forged a good partnership with Eden Hazard. Great to have a natural left footer who is able to put in a good curling cross. Some sloppy passes but overall a good enough debut to build on and show he could have a great future in the position. Rating – 7/10
Ruben Loftus-Cheek – CM
A booking in the first minute could well have affected his confidence, but the England U21 midfielder knew this was a great chance to show he is at home in the starting eleven. His first half was calm and assured as he looked comfortable on the ball linking play with Oscar and Cesc Fabregas. The second half was even better as he was switched to a more advanced role and one surging run where he ran thirty yards before setting up Diego Costa showed the type of play we need from a partner for Nemanja Matic. Subbed for Bertrand Traore on 77 minutes. Rating – 8/10
Cesc Fabregas – CM
The Spaniard has had a poor start to the season and it raised the eyebrows of many supporters when Matic was dropped instead of him. A quiet first half with a few misplaced passes but looked better in the second half, setting up Costa’s goal in the 58th minute with a beautifully lofted pass. Rounded off his night perfectly with a tap-in goal in the 78th minute as the home side broke four on two and Loic Remy’s shot was only half saved by Pedrag Rajkovic. Mostly quiet but still finished with a goal and an assist however his rating is pretty down to his second half performance. Rating – 8/10
Oscar – CM
A bright return to the side for the 24-year-old and I was impressed with his work rate in closing down the ball in the opposition half. Assumed the responsibility for the second spot-kick when Costa was fouled on the stroke of half-time after Hazard had earlier missed his. Still prefers to pass rather than take on defenders when I think he is capable of more but a very solid return. Subbed for Ramires on 65 minutes since it’s his first game back. Rating – 7/10
Willian – RW
His game lasted just 23 minutes officially although he first pulled up with what appeared to be a hamstring injury five minutes before that. Scored Chelsea’s opener with a testing free-kick from all of 35 yards out which bounced in the area, avoided every incoming player and deceived the Serbian keeper in the Tel Aviv net. Looked our best player before he went off. Rating – 7/10
Eden Hazard – LW
His performance was a real bag of Revels. In the last quarter of the game, we began to see signs of the old Eden but before then he had a shocker of a game. Even if we set aside his woeful penalty miss in the first half when he only had eyes for the keeper and not the ball there was plenty not to like. This was not the real Hazard as his touch was poor, his passing was underpowered or inaccurate and he didn’t seem to want to take on his marker at all. If he’d come off at half time I’d be giving him a 4/10. As the game wore on though he started to build that link with Rahman and in one brief spark of creativity he was his old self for a second as he dribbled through three defenders before his shot was deflected for a corner. There were other glimmers of light towards the end and we can only hope this game was the turning of a corner. The rating will divide opinion I’m sure as some will feel too high and some perhaps too low. Rating – 6/10
Loic Remy – ST/RW
What has the man got to do to get a break? This season he’s found himself behind not only Costa and Falcao in the pecking order but Kenedy too when it comes to selection from the bench. So when Costa was dropped and Falcao was ruled out through injury the Frenchman must have thought this was at last his chance to show what he can do. He started brightly too and I liked his energy chasing down the back line. Before he had time to get into his game however Willian went off in the 23rd minute to be replaced by Costa and Remy was switched to an unfamiliar right-wing role. He did a good job there showing bags of pace, but he doesn’t have the distribution required for a wide role. Rating – 7/10
Substitutes
Diego Costa – ST (on for Willian 23 minutes)
Still looked out of sorts and short on confidence for much of the game although he scored the best goal of the night as he volleyed in Fabregas’ long pass on 58 minutes. The shot had the luck the Spanish striker needs as it clipped the woodwork on the way where on another night it could have come back out. Didn’t seem as wound up and argumentative as normal which was a blessed relief as I’m often concerned about keeping all eleven players on the field when he plays. He also won the penalty which Oscar scored. Rating – 7/10
Ramires – CM (on for Oscar 65 minutes)
I saw nothing in Ramires’ performance that I didn’t already know (and not everyone agrees with me here). He has a great engine and will run all day but when he gets to where he’s going he invariably ends up losing the ball. It’s either a blazing shot high and wide or a poor pass. He looked a much better player two years ago and I don’t know what has changed. Rating – 5/10
Bertrand Traore – CAM (on for Loftus-Cheek 77 minutes)
We all know what a fantastic prospect this young Burkinabe attacker is and now that he finally has his work permit it was great to see him in action. It was only a cameo of about 15 minutes, but we saw plenty of energy, technique and at one point a great shot which went just wide and got every fan out of their seat.
Rating – 7/10 (for the short space of time that he had)
