Chelsea put five Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge in a match which saw more sublime attacking Football from the Blues.
While fans would have no doubt been delighted to see Moises Caicedo make his return to action, it was veteran midfielder Jordan Henderson who stole the show today, with two sublime goals and an assist.
Xabi Alonso called the Englishman’s performance “complete” after the match, and signalled that a Henderson and Caicedo double pivot may be what offers Chelsea most stability in the middle of the park.
That is because although Chelsea did score five, there was still too much end to end action throughout the match. The good thing though is that goals are flowing in, and it is only a handful of games into the season, so there is still plenty of time for an improvement on the control end of things in the coming weeks.
Let’s take a look at each player below, rating them on a scale of 1-10.
Chelsea Player Ratings vs Bournemouth
Emiliano Martinez - 7
The goal was unlucky. Martinez made a fantastic one on one save from Rayan in the first half to keep the Blues at 2-0. His cross claiming was good today, but could improve his long passing, only completing 4/19.
Josh Acheampong - 7.5
A really solid game from Josh, particularly under pressure on the ball. No matter the score, Bournemouth constantly pressed high and Josh did well on multiple occasions to either dribble out of pressure or find a pass. Right centre back in a three seems to suit him well. Extremely strong and quick across the ground.
Maxence Lacroix - 6.5
Not bad, not great. Lacroix was at fault for stepping too high in the first half which led to Rayan’s big chance, but that could also be attributed to the man to man pressing system that Alonso wants to play. Overall decent on the ball and won some important aerial duels.
Levi Colwill - 7
An improved performance from Colwill. He has struggled this season in the wide centre back role, but today he was more adventurous with his passing. He completed the most passes for Chelsea, and also won 5/6 of his aerial duels. Bournemouth’s rotating wingers never really troubled him.
Pedro Neto - 7
Neto has come on leaps and bounds since his spat with Reece James on the first day of the season at Fulham. Once flagged for not tracking back, no one can question just how hard Neto is working off the ball. It was his hard work and determination running onto a over-hit ball from Acheampong which led to him getting the better of Antonio Silva, before cutting it back to Joao Pedro for 3-0
Jordan Henderson - 9.9
So close to a ten, and so close to perfect, but he did overhit some long passes at times when he could have kept things ticking. Still, it was a sensational performance from Henderson who scored after just two minutes with a curling effort off the post. He set up Morgan Rogers moments later, and capped off his performance with a free kick into the top corner to make it 5-1 on the day. Henderson looks fresh, and was a willing presser. He covered the most distance of any player (11.9km) in the match.
Moises Caicedo - 8.5
Xabi Alonso will be delighted to have him back. Considering he has only had a few training sessions, Caicedo looked close to his best out there today. Dropping between the centre backs to get on the ball, spraying diagonal passes, winning duels, and most importantly being close positionally to Henderson which meant that Bournemouth struggled to find the gaps which many sides have against Chelsea in recent weeks.
Pep Chavarria - 7.5
Does he remind anyone else of Cucurella? Okay, yeah, they’re both Spanish and small in stature, but it’s Chavarria’s tenacity in pressing, tackling style and driving runs forward on the ball which I am more referring to. His assist to Joao Pedro was a perfectly weighted cross across the box. The more he plays, the better I feel he will be for the Blues.
Cole Palmer - 6
A bit of a quiet one for Palmer today. A couple of good moments : first, laying off the ball for Jordan Henderson for the opener, and a mazy run late on which led to being fouled, before Henderson struck home the free kick. Overall though, not many chances in front of goal and faded in and out of the match.
Morgan Rogers - 7.5
A deflected effort helped Chelsea go 2-0 up in just five minutes. It is fantastic to see Rogers be so consistent and threatening in front of goal, but it was even more important to see his defensive work today. Rogers constantly tracked back off the ball to help out Chavarria. Another attribute I want to highlight is his hold up play, where his upper body strength is causing real trouble for opposition players. I have nicknamed Rogers ‘The Tank’.
Joao Pedro - 8
Two clinical finishes from Chelsea’s number nine who has wiped away all talk of the ‘curse’ since changing. Joao is one of the most clinical finishers in Europe right now, and leads the Premier League as of Saturday night in goals and assists combined with eight. I really liked this performance because he still scored two goals even though he was less involved in general play. That’s what Erling Haaland does, and now he is on the same league goals as him this season.
Alonso made several subs, but none really had enough time to impact the game for an overall rating. Marco Palestra made his Stamford Bridge debut, while Estevao saw more late minutes. Romeo Lavia also continued his good run of health by coming on for a fifteen minute cameo.
The next test for the Blues will be a tricky midday trip to Everton next Saturday. There will be more tests defensively, especially from set pieces, which the singular Bournemouth goal came from today.
However, with the quick starts during matches and key players back, there will be internal and external confidence from all those involved with Chelsea that should be a major improvement on last season’s 3-0 defeat in Merseyside.
