Stamford Bridge – the home of the latest English champions – prepared to host Watford after confirming that they would lift the coveted Premier League trophy this season. Antonio Conte’s rivalry with Walter Mazzarri has not touched the heights it did in Italy but it indeed looked like this would be a tactical battle again.
The match that was simmering gave enough entertainment as a changed Chelsea team with players like Kennedy, Michy Batshuayi, Nathaniel Chalobah beat Watford 4-3 thanks to goals from Captain John Terry, Cesar Azpilicueta, Batshuayi and Cesc Fabregas.
Here’s how the Blues of London have been rated after another good victory:
GK: Asmir Begovic – 5/10
Conceded three and that’s not a good thing. Partly at fault for the first goal as he charged unnecessarily. Couldn’t have done much about the other two from Janmaat and Okaka.
RWB: Cesar Azpilicueta – 7/10
He was involved in the play much more today and took quite a few shots as well. Kept composure to finish and give Chelsea the lead before half time. Defensively tidy as usual.
CB: Kurt Zouma – 6/10
Had to be hardly involved in the game and probably the only thing he did was to rotate the ball around.
CB: John Terry – 6/10
Scored the opener to give the Bridge a brilliant start but his header back to the keeper didn’t have much power and Capoue pounced on it to score. Had to be called into action on few occasions and he kept his composure to eliminate the trouble.
CB: Nathan Ake – 6/10
Let in Janmaat quite easily for Watford’s second and looked a bit rusty at times. Controlled a deflected ball well to thread it in the path of Batshuayi and earned an assist for that goal which was Chelsea’s third. Decent on a rare start.
LWB: Kennedy – 6/10
Began the game well, got into the right positions and threatened to move forward when given a chance but wore off as the game went on and was substituted in the second half. Not really impressive but not bad either.
CM: N’Golo Kanté – 5.5/10
The Chelsea midfielders had to be hardly involved much today but Kante’s role was the same. He went about trying to get the ball back and succeeded at times.
CM: Nathaniel Chalobah – 5.5/10
Involved very few times in the game and kept the ball ticking through the midfield. Watford’s play was mostly down the flanks so he didn’t have much to do.
LF: Eden Hazard – 6/10
On very few occasions it looked like Hazard would run and penetrate the defence to trouble them but today didn’t look like his day. He tried well but the end product wasn’t of the quality of that in the previous games.
RF: Willian – 7.5/10
On his day, Willian is such a beautiful player to watch. Silky with the touches, he floated around with the ball and linked up well with team-mates. Assisted the winner in a calm manner as well.
ST: Michy Batshuayi – 6.5/10
Had to be the victim of Prodl who was being aggressive but he tried till the very last seconds of his game-time to make a difference. Scored the third after getting into a sweet position. Won’t trouble Costa for the first team place but he surely did enjoy a rare start.
