Chelsea Player Ratings vs Bournemouth
West London giants Chelsea, secured yet another victory on boxing day to continue their reign on top of the league table as title favourites, with a win over Bournemouth at the Stamford Bridge taking them 7 points clear 2nd placed Manchester City.
A Pedro brace that had Hazard’s penalty strike sandwiched in between saw Antonio Conte’s charges comfortably stroll to their 12th league win on the bounce, ensuring the run continued in style this time around having won their last 3 games with 1-nil scorelines.
How did the Blues fare against Eddie Howe’s men?
Courtois
Kept his 11th clean sheet of the season with some crucial stops the few times the Cherries managed to threaten his goal.
Rating: 10/10
Azpilicueta
Made a vital clearance to deny the visitors the chance of taking a lead and kept his side of the defence impossible to penetrate with his top notch defensive capabilities.
Rating: 10/10
David Luiz
Engaged King in many tussles and still managed to curb the effectiveness of the striker who was bent on causing sorts of damage to Chelsea’s backline.
Helped build-up play from the back and remained calm whenever in possession of the ball.
Rating: 9/10
Cahill
Didn’t have that much one-on-one defending to do on the day but still played fine and made vital clearances.
The English international also made forward dashes with the ball and had no hard time whatsoever.
Rating: 8/10
Moses
His finishing left little to be desired when he could have done much much better, blasting a fine opportunity to help wrap up the game wide.
Continually made his attacking influence felt and was a threat on that front as he had nothing to do at the back this time around.
Rating: 8/10
Fabregas
Got another chance to start with Kante out suspended but was nowhere close as defensively solid like the France international.
He however, made up for that shortcoming with great attacking contribution, which included his assist to Pedro for the first goal.
Rating: 8/10
Matic
Helped shield the defence and distributed well to keep things in check in the middle of the park.
Came close to allowing Wilshere get a clear chance on goal in the first period after fumbling a headed clearance.
Rating: 7/10
Alonso
Looked not as impressive as he was last time out as he failed to create any sort of chance or supply a key pass while attacking, and also didn’t cover his wing well defensively.
Rating: 6/10
Willian
Got a rare chance to start with Costa out but didn’t make much of it as his finishing wasn’t as impressive, though he did put in his trademark dashes and runs.
Rating: 7/10
Hazard
Was at the centre of it all, calling the shots, dictating the tempo of the game and keeping things thick for the hosts in the attacking third.
Got himself his 9th Premier League strike of the campaign from the spot.
Rating: 9/10
Pedro
A super 10/10 rating for Pedro. Scored another masterpiece of a goal to put Chelsea ahead and continually troubled Bournemouth’s defence.
Scored his 2nd with a deflected shot off the visitors’ defenders but was still a very much deserved goal.
Rating: 10/10
SUBSTITUTES
Chalobah
Came on to help keep the midfield tight towards the end.
Rating: N/A
Aina
A late sub.
Rating: N/A
Batshuayi
Very late sub and barely lasted 5 seconds on the pitch.
Rating: N/A