Burnley v Chelsea player ratings
Victor Moses made one goal and scored another as Chelsea secured a second away win in the space of six days. Here’s how we rated each Blues player in the impressive 2-1 victory at Turf Moor.
Thibaut Courtois: 6
Had almost nothing to do as Chelsea controlled the play from the off and had no chance with the fortunate deflected goal that briefly drew the Clarets level.
Cesar Azpilicueta: 7
The Spaniard went about his business with the minimum of fuss, retaining his position, covering when needed and organising those around him impressively.
Gary Cahill: 8
A hugely impressive performance from Chelsea’s captain, who was powerful and dominant in the air and nullified the threat posed by Burnley’s direct approach with some fine old-school defending. Cahill’s glorious long ball out wide also set up the first goal, while he rectified the only error he made, sliding in to clear after he miscontrolled on the edge of his own box.
Antonio Rudiger: 7
Similar to Azpilicueta, Rudiger did his work in the background, maintaining good defensive shape and taking no risks.
Victor Moses: 9
Moses attacked with real positivity and was rewarded by teeing up the opening goal and then grabbing the winner. His defensive work was excellent too, capping an almost perfect wing-back display.
N’Golo Kante: 8
There were a couple of unusually sloppy passes, but Kante was once again majestic in the middle of the park, breaking up play, providing a platform for countless attacks and showing great awareness, both in possession and without.
Tiemoue Bakayoko: 5
Bakayoko still looks fragile confidence-wise, taking too many touches and seemingly not having the full trust of his team-mates. But the Frenchman improved a great deal in the second period, adjusting to the pace of the game and showing some neat touches in attacking areas.
Emerson: 7
A more than respectable full Premier League debut for the wing-back, who provided several dangerous crosses and also had a fierce second-half shot well saved. His defensive work was also solid.
Pedro: 8
Bright and pro-active, always running and prepared to take on defenders, Pedro created space for others and made numerous surging runs both from deep and out wide. He seemed to thrive in the freedom given to him playing just ahead of the midfield two and the fact he had two strikers to play off.
Olivier Giroud: 7
He combined effectively with Alvaro Morata throughout their 70 minutes together on the pitch. He was strong and looked more mobile and sharper, a by-product of getting closer to match fitness and his two goals in his previous outing.
Alvaro Morata: 6
He missed a great one-on-one chance after doing everything right with a purposeful run from Kante’s pass and his performance will be remembered for that, which is a shame because that big miss aside, he showed a good response to his spineless efforts against Southampton. Morata’s hold-up play was decent, he showed some neat touches and made several threatening runs.
Eden Hazard: 8
Seized control after coming on inside the final quarter of the match, dictating play and beating people for fun. Looked lively and relaxed and will no doubt benefit from the rest prior to Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Southampton at Wembley.
