Player Ratings: Chelsea 2-0 Fulham

The ratings are in from a frustrating SW6 derby.

Rob Jones. Do I dare say more? A superb team effort from Marco Silva’s side and a beautiful moment for Josh King were both ruined by a game full of scandalous officiating. Here’s the lowdown on how we performed…

Bernd Leno

Thought Leno played a big part in our build-up play, frequently being trusted to help the ball go from side to side to help play through Chelsea’s press, in the end completing more passes than most of our outfield starters. Made a few decent run of the mill saves and one superb save from Estevao around an hour in. Struggled to command his crowded box for the first goal and will be frustrated to see the penalty go off his legs and down the middle of the goal. 6.5/10.

Kenny Tete

Fairly standard performance from Tete who I thought was reliable on the ball throughout. Looked to have a good relationship with Castagne on the right side and clear that he enjoyed the additional freedom to overlap a bit more when we went to a back four. Still think personally that Tete is best utilised a bit wider than as a wide centre back but he’s adapting well and adding increased versatility to his game. 6/10.

Joachim Andersen

For the second week running, Andersen was comfortably our best centre half. Must be said, it’s also probably the second week running where the Dane might have been gutted not to score, seeing a header cleared off the line in added time. Joa was the key man in playing out of Chelsea’s press, and unsurprisingly played the most accurate long passes of anyone in black and white. Defensively I thought he was superbly strong in holding off the likes of George and Pedro and showed a decent amount of recovery speed when needed. He looks fresh this season off the back of some criticism last year. 7.5/10.

Calvin Bassey

I have to be honest, I thought Bassey was very poor. On the ball, of the three centre backs, he may have completed the most passes but he also looked the most shaky on the ball and failed to be as progressive as Tete or Andersen. Defensively it was scary how easily he was frequently beaten. I lost count of the number of times Estevao stood Bassey up, drew in a poor challenge and ran past our defender. After a frustrating weekend last time out, he needs to get his head up over the break and get back to his best when league football returns. 4/10.

Timothy Castagne

As I said previously, I’m really enjoying how well Castagne and Tete are working together on the right side. Castagne defensively was superb too, reducing Neto to very little. Every time the Portuguese winger stood him up or tried going either side, Castagne stood firm and made a number of quality blocks. It still just frustrates me how little he offers in the final third for someone playing the wing back position. 7/10.

Sasa Lukic

Another really good industrious performance from the Serb who must’ve covered every blade of grass on the pitch whilst contributing at both ends of the pitch. Not only did he make the most tackles of any Fulham player, he also made the most key passes too. Make no mistake about it, Lukic can become a key cog in the number eight position if he continues to push up the pitch and contribute more in the final third whilst also posing a promising threat from set-piece deliveries. 7/10.

Sander Berge

We were so close to a first Sander Berge goal contribution for the club (sadly he still has zero, unfortunately that is factually correct as a statistic). Not only did he play the ball through for Josh King in the first half, but he also nearly tapped in after Andersen’s late header was cleared off the line. While Berge’s ball retention was good, I thought he was a bit soft on Chelsea’s technical players, Joao Pedro especially turned him slightly too often. 6.5/10.

Ryan Sessegnon

Offered far more than Castagne did from a wing back position in terms of an attacking threat, connecting really well with King especially at times to get down the left. Defensively I think Sess did really well in covering whenever Bassey struggled and made two or three important interventions in the box in the first half. Will be frustrated with how the penalty was conceded, but football players aren’t allowed to have arms anymore, apparently. 7/10.

Alex Iwobi

Iwobi frustrated me in this one. The way we set up, it just feels like somebody with his attacking intent and abilities should be getting further up the pitch far more often than he did, leaving Muniz and King far too isolated far too often. He looked constantly annoyed at the lack of space he was getting but ultimately his movement and ball retention had to be better itself. 5.5/10.

Josh King

I said to those around me at the Bridge, I know that Fulham bias comes into how horrifically terrible or unbelievably amazing a player is. I thought Josh King was a big talent, but this is the game where he stood up and showed that, actually, he’s even better than we could have ever imagined. He made a mockery of the hundreds of millions pounds worth of Chelsea talent on the pitch, running rings round them with confidence and ease. The fact he’s lost that moment thanks to some horrendous officiating is heartbreaking, but he will have more moments for sure. He was the best player on the pitch by a mile, an astonishing performance. 9/10 - Man of the match.

Rodrigo Muniz

I think we have to talk about how stupidly careless Muniz was to deliberately stand on Chalobah in the build up to the King goal. I am of course joking, however that moment did just add to a growing sense of frustration around Muniz who fed off of scraps with so little bodies around him and long balls often going above him to Tosin or Sanchez. I don’t want to criticize him too harshly, because I just don’t think a striker can do much without service or other forward players to link with. 5.5/10.

Substitutes

Raul Jimenez

Played the last half an hour in place of a frustrated Muniz. Whereas last week I thought Raul added a lot to our attack and contributed strongly, this time at the Bridge I thought he just ran around like a headless chicken with no clear idea of what to do to change the game. 5/10.

Harry Wilson

H coming on for Castagne for the last 30 minutes helped in the way it changed our shape but it still felt like he was receiving the ball way too deep to affect any noticeable change on the game. Maybe at that point spirits had dropped after Fernandez added a second goal but Wilson will be gutted he couldn’t make a difference. 6/10.

Antonee Robinson

Lost the ball a few times on the left hand side and looked hesitant to cross early when in decent positions. Of course, his fitness and sharpness needs taking into account and ultimately it’s a positive that he got near on half an hour into the legs in place of Sess, but his best is definitely still to come. 5.5/10.

Emile Smith Rowe

I think out of all the subs ESR probably showed the most intent to make a difference but still struggled as much as the rest. Came on for King at the same time as Jedi, which Maresca did quite well to counteract with the introduction of Andrey Santos which closed up the Chelsea midfield and nullified our subs’ threats near the penalty area. 6/10.

Adama Traore came on too late to be fairly assessed.

Marco Silva

I liked how we set up to play around Chelsea’s press and for the most part we executed that well, especially through Tete and Andersen. Again, I love the freedom given to Josh King, but it was noticeable how little support he was receiving. It’s okay to set up with a back three against any opposition, but you can still make it more offensive. Iwobi, Castagne, Berge are the three that come to mind especially but as a unit he needs to find a way to make everyone outside of the back three contribute more to our attacking play. Whilst it would be easy to criticize how little the subs changed the game, I more think that actually the second goal killed a game that had been so emotionally driven to a point where our players had little left to give. Lots to ponder over the international break, for sure. 6.5/10.