Chelsea v Palace player ratings
Chelsea secured their place in the FA Cup final with a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace. Here’s how we rated each of the men in yellow at Wembley.
Edouard Mendy: 6
Made a decent first-half save from Cheikhou Kouyate’s strike but was otherwise pretty much untroubled. And his kicking was also without drama, the big keeper taking no chances having been scarred by his Real Madrid catastrophe.
Reece James: 8
He combined guile, quality and sheer power. James was smart and efficient in possession and was totally at home stepping out from the back, moving wide or pushing into midfield when required.
Andreas Christensen: 7
The Dane played with his usual composure, with his positioning and ability to read the game shining through. The pace and trickery of Wilfried Zaha caused him trouble at one point, but that was the only worrying moment.
Antonio Rudiger: 7
Tried his luck with a trademark long-range hit and also played some familiar decent balls out from the back, while always looking in control defensively.
Cesar Azpilicueta: 7
Dependable once again, the Spaniard contributed plenty with his nous and experience a big factor in a solid Chelsea rearguard, that saw Palace muster just two attempts on target.
Jorginho: 7
His influence became more and more obvious as Chelsea began to exert greater control the longer the game went on. His intelligence and willingness to plug gaps and do the dirty work is very much under-appreciated but stood out at Wembley.
Mateo Kovacic: 6
A short afternoon’s work for the Croatian, who was forced off after less than 25 minutes because of injury.
Marcos Alonso: 7
He failed to get forward as much as he would have liked, but did so to great effect to help lay on Mason Mount’s game-clinching goal.
Mason Mount: 8
Continued where he left off in the past couple of games, matching an exhausting work-rate with flashes of brilliance, notably for his beautifully-taken goal which as good as sealed victory.
Timo Werner: 8
He was still hit and miss with his final ball but Werner is definitely playing with much more confidence and his relentless running posed never-ending problems for Palace.
Kai Havertz: 6
A couple of outstanding touches from the German, whose movement stretched the defence throughout and allowed others to run in behind. A shocking dive, for which he was yellow-carded, somewhat marred a fine display.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek: 7
Kovacic’s replacement made very little impact until smashing in a screamer of an opener – and Chelsea never looked back after that.
N’Golo Kante: 6
The Frenchman came on at 2-0 up and played his part in seeing out victory.
Hakim Ziyech: 6
A quiet cameo for the winger.
Romelu Lukaku: 5
He missed an absolute sitter at the end, a miss which pretty much sums up his season after a bright start.
Thiago Silva: 6
The hugely popular Brazilian came on inside the final 10 minutes and got a great reception.
