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West Bromwich Albion vs. Chelsea: Player Ratings, Man of the Match

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1. PEDRO - AMR 9.2
Minutes played83
Touches50
Passes31*/40
Shots1*/3
Tackles2
Fouls drawn3
As far as debuts go, we could've hardly asked for much more.  We might have finally found someone to take some of the opposing defenses' attentions away from Hazard!

Pedro's impact was felt in both attack and defense, and the fact that Mourinho chose to leave him on instead of Willian, when it came time to sacrifice someone in response to Terry's red card, is indicative of just how much the manager trusts the new signing already.

On his first day, Pedro showed decent understanding with Fabregas, unsurprisingly, and he combined with Hazard effectively a few times as well.  All that should improve with time and practice, so hopefully this performance is a sign of things to come.

2. THIBAUT COURTOIS - GK 8.2
Minutes played90
Touches51
Distribution15/33
Saves4
Outside of that one heads-gone moment against Swansea City — without which maybe he comes to try to claim the ball before Rondon has a chance to sell the foul and draw a red card for Terry — Courtois has had an excellent start to the season.

While he conceded twice in this one, the first came from a comedy of defensive errors, cheap giveaways, missed marking assignments, and a couple fantastic touches from West Brom, while the second was mostly pure luck on Morrison's part.  Not much he could've done against either.  He made up for both with a most crucial penalty kick save anyway.

3. CESAR AZPILICUETA - DL 8.0
Minutes played90
Touches61
Passes45/61
Shots1*/2
Blocks + INTs2
Cesar Azpilicueta played a strange, almost bizarro version of Cesar Azpilicueta in this one.  He seemed to be attacking quite a bit more than usual — as partially evidenced by his goal (first ever in the Premier League!) where he was the second-most forward player in attack — while continuing to be less than stellar in defense.

Sure, compared to the rest of our defenders, Azpilicueta has done ok, but he struggled against McManaman, just as he had done against Ayew, and to a lesser extent, Jesus Navas.  Everybody needs to sort things out back there, and Dave is no exception.

OTHERS:
Terry (5.2), Zouma (7.2), Ivanović (5.0), Matić (5.6), Fàbregas (5.9), Hazard (7.1), Willian (6.1), Costa (7.7)

SUBS:
Cahill (6.5), Falcao (5.4), Mikel (6.0)

OVERALL:

2015-16 player ratings wba A

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