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1. ÉDOUARD MENDY (7.8)
As Reece James put it, Chelsea’s primary objective was obviously to win the game, but barring that outcome, we should certainly ensure that we don’t lose the game. And outside of a penalty shootout, you can’t lose if you don’t concede.
That’s where Mendy comes in, who’s now kept his fifth Premier League clean sheet in just six games, and eight in eleven games overall. The five clean sheets put Mendy top of the golden gloves chart in the league, one ahead of six other goalkeepers, including Spurs’ Hugo Lloris.
2. THIAGO SILVA (7.6)
While Mendy did pull off a couple good stops on Sunday, clean sheets are rarely the work of just one player. And that’s where Thiago Silva comes in, who put in yet another excellent shift at the back, organizing, covering, ball-playing. Except for a moment of madness from Kurt Zouma, it was another excellent outing from Silva & Co — the back four of Silva, Zouma, James, and Chilwell these days are at least as good as any back-four that Chelsea have put out in recent years.
3. N’GOLO KANTÉ (7.5)
The last major component of Chelsea’s clean sheet was the midfield, which needed to be alert to and provide cover for any counters that Spurs were able to launch. And we did that pretty much flawlessly, thanks in great part to the work of this one man (though not to forget very good outings from Kovačić and Mount as well).
With goalkeeping, defending, and midfield-ing like this, we certainly have the solid base on which to build a title challenge. The attack had an off-day against a solid parked bus, but we can probably safely assume that such days will be rare given the talent we’ve amassed there.
Onwards and upwards!
vs. TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (PL, H, D 0-0)
EXCEPTIONAL (9.0+): —
EXCELLENT (8.0-8.9): —
GOOD (7.0-7.9): Mendy (7.8), Silva (7.6), Kanté (7.5), James (7.5), Mount (7.4), Kovačić (7.2)
AVERAGE (6.0-6.9): Chilwell (6.8), Zouma (6.8), Werner (6.3)
POOR (5.0-5.9): Pulisic (5.9, sub), Ziyech (5.8), Giroud (5.8, sub), Havertz (5.7, sub), Abraham (5.4)
BAD (4.0-4.9): —
TERRIBLE (3.0-3.9): —
OVERALL
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