Chelsea player ratings as Chalobah and Jackson shine, Caicedo great in impressive Tottenham win
Chelsea's European dream is still alive after a brilliant performance saw them beat Tottenham 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues made just the one change from the side that drew at Aston Villa with Alfie Gilchrist replacing the injured Axel Disasi. And it was Chelsea who started the better of the two sides and their early dominance paid off when Trevoh Chalobah headed past Vicario to give the hosts the lead in west London.
A few more chances followed for Chelsea but they failed to take advantage of any in the first-half. Spurs, meanwhile, looked well below par out there. The visitors did, though, start the second-half the better of the two teams.
But it was Chelsea who got the all important second goal. After Cole Palmer hit the crossbar with a fantastically struck free-kick from the edge of the box, Nicolas Jackson was on hand to head in the rebound and double the Blues' advantage.
It remained 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. Bobby Vincent rated the Chelsea players out of 10 below...
Djordje Petrovic – 6
The Serbian did not have much to do all evening-long. Petrovic dealt well with a couple of dangerous crosses when necessary but Spurs were restricted to very few chances on the night.
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Alfie Gilchrist – 7
Gilchrist did really well. He struggled on his full Premier League debut at Arsenal but on his second start he put things more than right. A superb defensive display on the right-hand side of defence against the dangerous Son Heung-min.
Trevoh Chalobah – 8
The 24-year-old opened the scoring for Chelsea with a brilliant header into the top corner. It was Chalobah's first goal for the club since the 3-1 win against Norwich City in March 2022. A fantastic defensive display from Chalobah, who seems to go from strength to strength in each game.
Benoit Badiashile – 7
Badiashile massively improved at Aston Villa and he continued his resurgence in form against Tottenham. The Frenchman was forced to cover Marc Cucurella, who was being used in an inverted role, a lot and he did that superbly.
Marc Cucurella – 6
The Spaniard, as mentioned above, drifted into central areas a lot, like we saw against Aston Villa in the second-half. He defended well throughout but perhaps did not get on the ball centrally as much as he would have liked.
Moises Caicedo – 8
Caicedo was brilliant last time out at Aston Villa and his form continued tonight. Another tremendous performance from Chelsea's energetic midfielder. Caicedo has looked so much better in these last two matches. Bargain.
Conor Gallagher – 7
The England international had a banner presented by supporters prior to kick-off at Stamford Bridge. Gallagher seemed to relish that as he put a show on for the adoring supporters. A brilliant cross to Chalobah to set up the opening goal of the game.
Noni Madueke – 6
Madueke showed glimpses yet again of his talent. There is one point where he takes on a couple of Spurs defenders to cut in on his left foot and is terribly unfortunate not to find the target with an absolute rocket of a strike.
Cole Palmer – 7
Hunting down Erling Haaland's goal total, Palmer looked to continue his frightening form at Stamford Bridge. He was unable to do that in terms of goal contributions but he still looked terrific out there. He is such a pleasing player to watch.
Mykhailo Mudryk – 7
Mudryk started really well with a couple of penetrative passes in behind the Spurs defence. His defensive work was much better than recent games. Everything was better. More of that.
Nicolas Jackson – 8
After scoring a hat-trick in the reverse fixture, Jackson was very excited to take on Spurs once again. However, he was unable to convert a one-on-one chance after being played clean through by Mudryk.
Thankfully for Jackson, though, he did score in the second-half. A poacher-esque finish from the striker to head into an empty net after Palmer hit the crossbar with a free-kick.
Substitutes
Cesare Casadei – 6
Casadei came on straight after Chelsea doubled their lead. Direct replacement for Mudryk so the Italian was on the left wing. Couldn't really get involved unfortunately during his brief time on the pitch.
Josh Acheampong – N/A
Great to see him come on and make his Chelsea debut late on.
Jimi Tauriainen – N/A
Got some minutes in stoppage time. Great to see.