1. N’GOLO KANTÉ (9.9)

What more can we say about Kanté, an absolute legend of the world game already, and one who just happened to save his best performance for his 218th Chelsea game — now one more than Claude Makélélé, his spiritual predecessor, for 75th all-time in club history — on the biggest stage in the club game. And that’s saying something, considering the levels we’ve seen from him in the preceding 217.

In the history of our Community Player Ratings, since 2012, this is the highest rated match overall, with Kanté’s 9.9 the second highest (non-rigged) individual rating after Giroud’s perfect 10 for his four-goal effort against Sevilla earlier this season.

Also love seeing the campaign building steadily to give this adorable man the Ballon d’Or (considering that journalists make up a big portion of the vote, that’s key).

2. KAI HAVERTZ (9.7)

It doesn’t get much more symbolic than the most expensive player in club history (add-ons take him past Kepa Arrizabalaga) scoring one of the biggest goals in modern club history — up there with Drogba’s equalizer in 2012 and Gronkjær’s winner against Liverpool in 2003. And the best part is that like most the squad, Havertz is just getting started. His first season, blighted by injuries and coronavirus and having to adapt to a new league, country, way of life at age 21, hasn’t been the greatest, but it ended on the greatest of notes and the greatest of f-bombs.

3. REECE JAMES (9.5)

“Reecey” hasn’t been getting as much attention as other Chelsea Academy products making a massive impact the first-team level, or other Chelsea players making the step up under Tuchel, but the 21-year-old (21!) has quietly become absolutely indispensable (wing-back, center back, defensive midfielder) and has ended the season in fantastic form — outside of the very first game, the 0-0 draw against Wolves, James has featured in every single match for Tuchel, the only player in the squad who can claim that.

vs. MANCHESTER CITY (PL, N, W 1-0)

EXCEPTIONAL (9.0+): Kanté (9.9), Havertz (9.7), James (9.5), Rüdiger (9.4), Chilwell (9.4), Mount (9.4), Azpilicueta (9.4), Christensen (9.3, sub), Mendy (9.1)

EXCELLENT (8.0-8.9): Jorginho (8.9), Silva (8.9), Kovačić (8.7, sub), Pulisic (8.7, sub), Werner (8.6)

GOOD (7.0-7.9): —

AVERAGE (6.0-6.9): —

POOR (5.0-5.9): —

BAD (4.0-4.9): —

TERRIBLE (3.0-3.9): —

OVERALL