Chelsea were unable to recover from a poor first half as two goals in the closing stages saw Jose Mourinho’s side beaten 3-0 by Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. Here’s how we rated the Blues players in Sunday’s 3-0 defeat.
Asmir Begovic: 8
Another impressive performance from Thibaut Courtois’ understudy. He made several excellent first-half stops – mainly from Sergio Aguero – a couple of tidy saves after the interval, and had no chance with any of the goals.
Branislav Ivanovic: 4
A bad day for the Serbian. Raheem Sterling beat him with ease on a couple of occasions but the right-back gave an improved second-half until a disastrous end. He got forward as usual and sent in a couple of inviting crosses, but was at fault in the key moments, being outmuscled by Vincent Kompany for the second goal and losing possession for the third.
John Terry: 5
Played every minute of every Premier League game as Chelsea romped to the league title last season, but was unable to contain Aguero in the first half and was replaced at the break. Chelsea’s need to chase the game meant Mourinho chose to sacrifice his captain and bring in the pacier Kurt Zouma.
Gary Cahill: 6
Impressed after the break as Chelsea were forced to chance their arm, making some timely interventions. But like Terry has never looked particularly comfortable against the world-class Aguero and only his superior pace kept him on the pitch instead of his captain.
Cesar Azpilicueta: 6
Got forward but is still nowhere near as gung-ho as Ivanovic. Consequently he takes fewer risks and once again was relatively assured in defence.
Nemanja Matic: 5
Given the runaround in a shaky opening 30 minutes as Chelsea were over-run in midfield. But with his centre-backs pushing further up the pitch, he looked far more like the Matic of last season. However, the damage was done in the early stages, from which the Blues never recovered.
Ramires: 5
Missed a decent first-half chance and should have been given the benefit of the doubt when he had a goal ruled out for offside after the interval. Ever-willing and full of running but was characteristically heavy with his touch at times and should have offered more protection to Ivanovic.
Cesc Fabregas: 5
A less than auspicious start to the campaign for the multi-talented Spaniard, who, like Matic, lost control of the midfield in the first half.
Willian: 6
Covered a tremendous amount of ground but was unable to cut loose in attack.
Eden Hazard: 7
Should have scored with a glorious second-half chance but, apart from that weak strike on goal, the Belgian still stood out as Chelsea’s best attacking threat.
Diego Costa: 5
Still not at his sharpest but a real menace and deserves credit, both for his workrate and, more importantly, for keeping a lid on his understandable fury when Fernandinho was only booked for elbowing the striker in the head just before half-time. Expect a much more focused Costa when Chelsea face West Brom as he nears full match fitness.
Kurt Zouma: 7
Defended without alarm and in no-nonsense style, risking nothing and using the ball simply and quickly to help quicken the tempo in attack.
Juan Cuadrado: 6
Didn’t have long but it was one of his better appearances in a Blues shirt, providing a threat in attack and doing his defensive duties.
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This post was last modified on 30/08/2015