Chelsea withstood a strong performance by Leicester to progress into the FA Cup semi-finals. Here’s how we rated each Blues player in the 2-1 extra-time win at the King Power Stadium .
The Argentine was unlucky not to stop Leicester’s goal, having made a good save from Vicente Iborra and almost saving Jamie Vardy’s follow-up. But he was fortunate to get away with a poor second-half clearance which fell to Riyad Mahrez after rushing from his goal.
A steady display from the ever-reliable Spaniard, who used his pace with great effect and showed good anticipation when Chelsea were stretched.
Christensen had another fine game, sweeping up on numerous occasions and making a couple of crucial blocks and interceptions. Vardy’s incessant harassment troubles all defenders but he coped well and was as composed as ever in possession.
The quietest of Chelsea back three, Rudiger defended solidly throughout and used the ball without risk
Another frustrating afternoon for Moses, who defended well enough and saw plenty of the ball going forward, but lacked conviction and composure with his final ball.
It’s hard not feel sorry for the Frenchman after an abject display. He was little more than a passenger, looking completely shorn of confidence and doing practically nothing right in a first half full of misplaced and under-hit passes. His colleagues seemed reluctant to pass to him and a booking just before the break made it ever easier for boss Antonio Conte to replace him.
His first-half performance was astonishing at times – it had to be, given Bakayoko’s struggles – and he remained Chelsea’s star man. His team could not have managed without his energy, work-rate, calmness and ever-improving quality during a very mixed season for the Blues.
The only blemish on an otherwise excellent showing was when he was too easily beaten by the brilliance and trickery of Mahrez for Leicester’s goal. But that apart, Alonso covered a tremendous amount of ground was always supporting the attack and got in the box on numerous occasions.
He was not quite at the standard he displayed in midweek against Barcelona but was still mightily impressive. The Brazilian ran relentlessly and his superb burst from deep and brilliant pass set up Alvaro Morata’s fine opener.
Showed glimpses of his quality but was once again not at his very best. He maintained an impressive work-rate throughout and was still full of running in extra time, much to his credit.
He took his goal – his first this year – with wonderful composure and was more resilient than in recent weeks, thereby allowing a better platform for people to join in from midfield. His touch was generally decent and he showed good fitness levels but has much work to do to get his hold-up play to the required levels.
He brought a cool head and a much-needed ability to retain possession after replacing Bakayoko, and also did the ugly things well with Leicester having several strong spells in the second half.
Busy and dangerous during his match-winning cameo, Pedro showed a centre-forward’s bravery to head the winner and made a huge impact after coming on.
Won a few headers and made some decent runs, but was not hugely involved during his brief time on the pitch.
Did a more than respectable job in the closing stages, using his experience and defensive nous to see out victory.
This post was last modified on 19/03/2018