Swansea City vs. Chelsea, Player Ratings: Begovic makes the most of rare start

Asmir Begović has yet to be named Man of the Match in a Chelsea win and that trend continued with the 1-0 loss to Swansea City.  There was very little he could've done about Sigurdsson's goal, but otherwise, he was as solid as usual despite the long gaps in competitive appearances since the return of Thibaut Courtois from knee injury.

Begović's recent comments lead me to believe that he will stay regardless of what happens with Courtois next season.  So, our goalkeeping situation will probably remain in great hands, and will have an almost equally capable backup ready to go behind him whenever needed.

After going the full 90 against Aston Villa — and battling through the cramps — RLC was withdrawn with about fifteen minutes to go in this one.  While in and of itself that wasn't so egregious, the fact that he was replaced by absolute non-entity Radamel Falcao certainly rubbed many a fan the wrong way.

On the positive side, RLC has now featured in three straight Chelsea games, starting the last two (and took more shots than any other Chelsea player).  There are six games left in the season, let's make that nine straight appearances, shall we?

After a decade of getting typecast as a defensive midfielder, John Obi Mikel finally got to spread his wings and return to the position he was born to play in, attacking midfield!  And last night I also dreamt that André Schürrle was still playing for us, but sporting a ZZ Top beard.

Mikel did play a brand new position in this game though, and it was one that had been conspired and whispered and conspired about in dark corners for a few years: center back.  Over the years we've seen a few strangers at that position.  Paulo Ferreira played there once (very badly), as did Jose Bosingwa (most excellently).  Michael Essien a few times, too.  And of course David Luiz for a couple seasons.  And now Mikel.  And you know what, he wasn't half bad, putting his wonderful positional aptitude to good use and although Swansea didn't pose too much of a threat in the second half, Mikel's audition at versatility went quite well overall.

Is there anything he can't do!?