Chelsea played host to Wolverhampton Wanderers in a Wednesday night game that resulted in a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge.
With this being Thomas Tuchel’s opening game as Chelsea’s manager it was always going to be fascinating to see his choice of line-up. He made ten changes from Frank Lampard’s side that beat Luton Town 3-1 on Sunday in the FA Cup, with the main surprise absence being Mason Mount.
There were some good performances across the board and here we look at who particularly impressed:
Edouard Mendy
It was a rather quiet return to the team for Mendy, with Wolves not managing a shot on target during the entire match there was little to do. This makes it difficult to rate the Senegalese goalkeeper’s performance but, ultimately, he did no wrong and kept a clean sheet. Rating – 6
Cesar Azpilicueta
Coming in to replace Reece James, it was a solid game for the captain. Despite giving the ball away on a few occasions, he mostly managed to keep Pedro Neto quiet who was probably the most dangerous man on the pitch for Wolves. It might not have been a standout performance, but the clean sheet is what matters most. Rating – 7
Thiago Silva
Silva has been one of Chelsea’s most consistent performers throughout the season, and it was much the same again today. He kept the defence tidy and made many searching passes trying to get something going at the other end of the pitch for the Blues. Rating – 7.5
Antonio Rudiger
Thomas Tuchel has spoken highly of Rudiger in the past and put faith in him today for his first game in charge. Overall, it was a decent game for him and there cannot really be any complaints about the way he played. Rating – 7
Ben Chilwell
Probably will be considered as one of his poorer performances so far which reflected in him being substituted in the 76th minute, Chilwell could not quite manage to get it going down the left-side. He did have some good moments but missed a big opportunity after having the ball fed back to him from Kai Havertz. Still played a part in a good clean sheet and should not be too disheartened. Rating – 4.5
Jorginho
The Italian midfielder was not always a common starter under the reign of Lampard but was handed the opportunity to impress today. It was a decent all-round performance from him, but it did involve a lot of sideways passing and slowing of the play. It will be interesting to see if Tuchel will want to use him as a regular starter as from today it is evident he likes his side to have the majority of the possession. Rating – 6
Mateo Kovacic
Last year’s player of the season put in a pretty good display today, totalling an impressive 146 accurate passes. He was one of the brighter sparks on the pitch and was showing signs of the way he played last season. Kovacic was nearly the man to break the deadlock as well, with a wonderful curling effort that went just shy of the top corner.Hopefully he can kick on from this and be a major part of the Tuchel era. Rating – 8
★ Callum Hudson-Odoi
For me, this man was the best player out there today, looked excellent when running at the defenders and posed a lot of danger to that Wolves defence. He put some good crosses into the box but unfortunately nothing came from them. There was also an extremely important tackle he made running back in the final moments of the game to prevent Dendoncker having a chance. Rating – 8.5
Hakim Ziyech
The only player who remained from the team that faced Luton on Sunday, Ziyech could not quite manage that moment of magic to get Chelsea three points. There were some good moments from the Moroccan with him trying to find that key pass, but he could not quite make the difference. Rating – 7
Kai Havertz
Havertz has been a player who has been starting to improve his performances after a poor start to the season, but there still was not quite enough from him today. There were some good runs and passes and he looked destined to score a last-minute winner from a header before it was unfortunately blocked. He is improving and will hopefully grow more and more under the management of Tuchel. Rating – 7
Olivier Giroud
Despite a few half chances falling his way, nothing clear cut really opened up for Giroud. It was a tough game with not much service to the striker and he was unable to really impact the game, against that back three for Wolves it was always going to be difficult. Rating – 6
Substitutes: Mason Mount – 7.5, Tammy Abraham – 6.5, Christian Pulisic – 7.5.
The performance overall has to be looked at positively, this is a good base for Tuchel to start from. We hugely dominated possession, and although there was no breakthrough it is exciting to look ahead to our next fixtures when the manager will have had more chance to work with the players and implement his style.
