Leicester 1-3 Chelsea: Player ratings as Blues continue winning streak
By Tom Gott
Chelsea made it three wins in a row as they secured a frenetic 3-1 victory away at Leicester City on Saturday.
Goals from Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic got the job done for Chelsea, ensuring Patson Daka's impressive strike from range did nothing to sour the day.
Leicester made a solid start to the game but their positive mood was shattered after 12 minutes after Chilwell, the unpopular former Fox, drilled a low volley into Danny Ward's bottom corner.
James Maddison sent in a devilish free-kick soon after which found Daniel Amartey unmarked at the back post, but the latter failed to make the right contact with the ball and watched as it fizzed wide.
Chelsea came inches away from adding a second as Havertz sent Joao Felix through on goal, but the Portugal international's sumptuous lobbed effort dinked away off the post. Moments later, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's deflected strike from range crashed against the bar, with both sides pushing for the next goal.
On 34 minutes, Chelsea thought they had that goal as Felix tapped home a Ruben Loftus-Cheek cross following an excellent team move, but VAR spotted the Atletico loanee in an offside position.
Buoyed by that let-off, Leicester went down the other end and equalised as Felix was caught in possession and Daka's strike from range flew beyond Kepa and into the back of the net.
Kepa then saved from James Maddison and Kelechi Iheanacho as the Foxes came charging forwards in the final few minutes of the half, while Wesley Fofana escaped a VAR check on a potential handball that could easily have been given.
Against the run of play, it was Chelsea who went into the interval ahead. Enzo Fernandez scooped the ball over the Leicester defence and Havertz managed to flick over Ward with the final action of the first half.
Ward was needed to save a header from Wesley Fofana straight after the restart, before Conor Gallagher had to clear off the line to prevent a certain equaliser.
The Leicester goalkeeper also made a great stop to keep out a Havertz header with 20 minutes to go, moments before Dewsbury-Hall missed one of the best chances of the game as he fluffed his connection when trying to tap into an open net.
Mykhailo Mudryk found the back of the net and spent an age celebrating as the only person in the stadium who didn't know the offside flag had been raised, but he avoided the dreaded 007 Twitter curse by knocking a cross back to Kovacic to fire home a third with ten minutes to go.
To cap off a frustrating performance for Leicester, Wout Faes was shown a second yellow card in the dying embers, allowing Chelsea to run the clock down and secure the win.
Leicester player ratings (3-4-1-2)
GK: Danny Ward - 5/10 - Poor awareness for Chilwell's opener but did make a handful of impressive saves after the break.
CB: Daniel Amartey - 4/10 - Nearly kicked through to Havertz's heart moments before the German scored. Played the Chelsea man onside as well.
CB: Harry Souttar - 5/10 - A solid showing but was undone by three moments of class from Chelsea. Bullied Mudryk.
CB: Wout Faes - 2/10 - His aggressive defending saw him caught out of position a little too often. Given his marching orders with a few minutes to go for a second yellow card.
RM: Ricardo Pereira - 5/10 - Got away with a nasty challenge on Felix inside the opening few minutes and was fortunate to be on the pitch to assist Daka's equaliser.
CM: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall - 6/10 - A physical performance in Leicester's midfield. Caused a handful of problems and nearly saw a deflected effort hit the back of the net.
CM: Nampalys Mendy - 7/10 - Really impressive. Barely gave Chelsea's creative midfielders a second to try and pick passes.
LM: Timothy Castagne - 6/10 - Got forward a lot and enjoyed his battle with Loftus-Cheek.
AM: James Maddison - 7/10 - Unsurprisingly orchestrated things for Leicester. Another impressive showing that could have easily assisted a goal or two.
ST: Kelechi Iheanacho - 6/10 - Selfless movement to create things for those around him. Some poor touches but nothing to be too critical about.
ST: Patson Daka - 7/10 - Took his goal well in an energetic performance.
Substitutes
Tete (66' for Amartey) - 5/10 - Didn't do any defensive work and left his teammates out to dry.
Harvey Barnes (66' for Daka) - 5/10 - Found space hard to come by.
Boubacary Soumare (66' for Mendy) - 5/10 - Didn't offer any control in midfield. A noticeable drop-off from Mendy.
Jamie Vardy (76' for Iheanacho) - 5/10 - Buzzed around without offering too much.
Jonny Evans (90' for Maddison) - N/A
Manager
Brendan Rodgers - 5/10 - His two-man strike force deserved far better than it managed here, but Rodgers' substitutes did not help Leicester's cause at all.
Chelsea player ratings (3-4-3)
GK: Kepa Arrizabalaga - 6/10 - Kept busy by Leicester but rose to most of the challenges put to him. Couldn't get over to Daka's equaliser, however.
CB: Wesley Fofana - 6/10 - A little panicked by Castagne and Daka but nothing to be too concerned about.
CB: Kalidou Koulibaly - 7/10 - Another solid defence performance, topped off with a surprise assist for Chilwell's opener.
CB: Marc Cucurella - 7/10 - The resurgence continues. Grew in confidence as the game progressed.
RM: Ruben Loftus-Cheek - 7/10 - He might not be as fluid as Reece James in this position but Loftus-Cheek impressed with his physicality.
CM: Enzo Fernandez - 7/10 - A glorious assist for Havertz in what was an impressive showing full of a lot of gritty defensive work.
CM: Mateo Kovacic - 7/10 - Some nice passes and capped off a solid afternoon with a composed finish late on.
LM: Ben Chilwell - 7/10 - Great control for his opening goal. A little quiet afterwards but did pop up with a dangerous ball or two.
RW: Kai Havertz - 8/10 - Seemed to relish playing behind the striker here. Brilliant movement and an excellent goal.
ST: Mykhailo Mudryk - 6/10 - Another awkward showing but he'll be relieved to avoid the 007 - zero goals, zero assists in seven games.
LW: Joao Felix - 6/10 - A mixed 45 minutes full of good and bad moments. Off at half-time, which may have been related to Ricardo's naughty challenge in the opening few moments.
Substitutes
Conor Gallagher (46' for Felix) - 7/10 - Great energy. One of Chelsea's best performers in the second half.
Christian Pulisic (72' for Chilwell) - 5/10 - Barely involved in his 20-minute outing.
Trevoh Chalobah (72' for Loftus-Cheek) - 6/10 - Offered some valuable composure at the back when Leicester were growing into the game.
Carney Chukwuemeka (82' for Mudryk) - N/A
Benoit Badiashile (86' for Fofana) - N/A
Manager
Graham Potter - 6/10 - It wasn't Chelsea's best performance but we're starting to see what Potter is trying to do here. For the boss, that's as valuable as the win.