Chelsea v Wolves player ratings
Chelsea needed an injury-time equaliser by Eden Hazard to salvage a point at Stamford Bridge. Here’s how we rated each Blues player in the 1-1 draw.
Kepa Arrizabalaga: 6
Had virtually nothing to do all afternoon apart from pick the ball out of the net after the visitors’ first meaningful attack of the game.
Cesar Azpilicueta: 7
Always busting a gut to provide an extra line of attack with those overlaps and was a driving force throughout.
Antonio Rudiger: 7
Picked up a yellow card for a blatant bodycheck on Diogo Jota, but dealt well with Raul Jimenez on the occasional Wolves venture into enemy territory. Until the goal.
David Luiz: 6
Wolves’ supremely well-organised defensive unit did not allow any of his long-range passes to bear fruit and he was starved of a role. Hit one free-kick that came to nothing.
Emerson: 6
Given the rarity of Wolves attacks, Maurizio Sarri must surely have been hoping to see more of the Brazilian as an auxiliary forward player. But he offered little.
Jorginho: 6
Seemed to be growing in confidence and was looking tidy early on before a few sloppy passes and the need for a higher tempo saw him taken off 20 minutes from time – to great cheers from home fans.
N’Golo Kante: 7
Made one early half-chance for Higuain but for once not one of the game’s great influencers. Was even shrugged off the ball a couple of times.
Mateo Kovacic: 5
Largely anonymous and unsurprisingly withdrawn in favour of Ruben Loftus-Cheek soon after the interval. The Croatian could not get his game going.
Pedro: 6
A blast from outside the box just after the Wolves opener needed to be helped over the bar, but his usual busy work brought little reward.
Eden Hazard: 8
Left it late but fashioned a brilliant injury-time equaliser. Fouled repeatedly – as is very often his lot. Won plenty of free-kicks for the Blues but not able to create clear openings until the very end with his strike of pure class. His drilled right-footed shot into the bottom corner gave Rui Patricio no chance.
Gonzalo Higuain: 6
Faded after a promising start. Sharp low shot fired at the near post after racing on to a Kante pass and got to the near post to nod a Pedro cross goalwards. A low left-footed shot on the turn had Wolves keeper scrambling after the break but he missed a far-post tap in at a corner.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek: 7
Was warming up on the sidelines, ready to come on for Kovacic, when Wolves opened the scoring on 56 minutes. Immediately brought fresh urgency to a pedestrian Blues up to then and arguably played a part in injecting the extra pace that ultimately delivered.
Callum Hudson-Odoi: 6
On for Pedro just past the hour mark, but was well marshalled by Jonny and found it hard to create the space to put in any telling crosses.
Willian: 6
Replaced Jorginho for the final 20 minutes – and was soon taking free-kicks. One ping at goal clipped the Wolves wall. A shot from the left edge of the area curled narrowly wide of the far post.
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