1. WILLIAN (8.4)

Minutes: 90
Touches: 91
Passes: 52/68 (long balls: 5/5)
Shots: 2**/3
Take-ons: 3/5
Tackles+Blocks: 4+1

Willian brings back the Brillian, as he often tends to do when Hazard isn’t playing. Player ratings shouldn’t be taken as ultimate arbiters of player performance (more sentiment than anything else) and some of this is also biased through self-selection (Hazard tends to not feature in the easiest games), but just this season, Willian’s averaging a full point higher (7.1) than his season average (6.1) in the 11 games he started and Hazard did not. And it’s even better in games Hazard didn’t even feature (7.5 in those 6 games, including both Man of the Match awards).

2. CALLUM HUDSON-ODOI (7.9)

Minutes: 90
Touches: 85
Passes: 52/60
Shots: 1*/2
Take-ons: 5/7
Fouls drawn: 2
Tackles+Blocks: 3+1

Hopefully not the last time. Whatever may come in the summer.

3. ANDREAS CHRISTENSEN (7.5)

Minutes: 90
Touches: 130
Passes: 117*/125 (long balls: 3/7)
Shots: 0/1
Tackles+Cleareances: 2+1
Aerial duels: 2

No tummy aches or hamstring strains for miles! Lots of touches and passes! (NB.: Christensen’s 130 touches weren’t the most on the day; that honor goes to Kovačić with 140!)

vs. SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (FAC, H, W 3-0)

EXCEPTIONAL (9.0+): —

EXCELLENT (8.0-8.9): Willian (8.4)

GOOD (7.0-7.9): Hudson-Odoi (7.9), Christensen (7.5), Rüdiger (7.1), Azpilicueta (7.0), Giroud (7.0, sub)

AVERAGE (6.0-6.9): Kovačić (6.9), Higuaín (6.9), Caballero (6.8), Loftus-Cheek (6.6, sub), Ampadu (6.5), Jorginho (6.2, sub), Alonso (6.2)

POOR (5.0-5.9): Barkley (5.9)

BAD (4.0-4.9): —

TERRIBLE (3.0-3.9): —

OVERALL