Chelsea vs. Blackburn Rovers, Player Ratings: The whole world in his Palmers

1. COLE PALMER (7.7)

Another game, another Man of the Match for Cole Palmer, his third in a row and fifth in our last six games.

Palmer collected the official assist on Sterling’s goal, our second — stemming from another interception high up, which seems to be a specialty for Palmer. And he was also crucial to our first, stealing the Blackburn defender’s soul with a nutmeg before Gallagher put the ball across that was palmed into the feet of Badiashile.

Light work.

2. BENOÎT BADIASHILE (7.5)

Big Bada Shile Back, Baby!

Love to see it.

And with a goal!

Bit of a logjam suddenly at center back, with Colwill, Silva, Disasi, and Badiashile all available. Who plays? Who rests? Not sure there is a definitive answer at the moment...

3. RAHEEM STERLING (7.4)

As I mentioned on the London is Blue Podcast in my latest, undoubtedly critically acclaimed appearance, Sterling’s performance was not great (again), but he did get his goal, which now makes him our leading goalscorer (again) — and poses an age-old conundrum.

Do you take that outcome and play him because he’s still our most likely source of goals on any given day, or do you put him on the bench because the process he provides is not ideal. It’s all or nothing, which isn’t great but is a luxury we can generally afford in an attacking player — but only in one attacking player per lineup.

I mean I’m pretty sure you’ve got to play him, and hey, he’s good for one dominant performance per month at least, right? Spurs or City: either one is fine.

vs. BLACKBURN (LC, H, W 2-0)

EXCEPTIONAL (9.0+): —

EXCELLENT (8.0-8.9): —

GOOD (7.0-7.9): Palmer(7.7), Badiashile (7.5), Sterling (7.4), Enzo (7.2)

AVERAGE (6.0-6.9): Cucurella (6.7), James (6.6), Gallagher (6.6), Sánchez (6.3), Ugochukwu (6.2), Disasi (6.1), Colwill (6.1, sub), Gusto (6.1, sub)

POOR (5.0-5.9): Caicedo (5.8, sub), Matos (5.5, sub), Madueke (5.4, sub), Jackson (5.2)

BAD (4.0-4.9): —

TERRIBLE (3.0-3.9): —

OVERALL