CHELSEA punched their ticket to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup after beating Brighton 1-0 at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues really needed a victory after a run of poor results that saw them losing three out of all seven matches, of which they won only two, across all competitions this season.
Nicolas Jackson scored the winner following a lovely attack from an otherwise nervous Chelsea side.
Ian Maatsen found Cole Palmer on the edge of the box and the ex-Manchester City ace passed to Jackson who beat Bart Verbruggen with a fine finish on 50 minutes.
The Senegal international also scored the West Londoners’ first goal of the month.
Jackson and Palmer thought they got another goal and assist respectively but the former was caught offside.
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Here’s how SunSport’s Lloyd Canfield rates the performance of Mauricio Pochettino’s players:
Robert Sanchez – 5
Gave the ball away horrendously in the first half twice, to give Brighton two or three golden opportunities. He was very poor with his feet, but made a few good saves with his hands. Somehow kept a clean sheet, but still the weakest Chelsea player on the field.
Axel Disasi – 5
Didn’t do anything too wrong or too right either. Bang average.
Levi Colwill – 8
Solid at the back against his old side, and played some really classy passes out from the back. Definitely the best at the back for Chelsea and his best showing under manager Mauricio Pochettino so far.
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Marc Cucurella – 6
Got caught in possession a few times and looked nervous as he played his first minutes under Mauricio Pochettino. Improved massively in the second half and looked far more comfortable from the 50th minute onwards.
Ian Maatsen – 6
Did well to close down Kaoru Mitoma and to deal with Pervis Estupinian for large parts of the game, but failed to impact the game in an attacking sense as we saw him do in pre-season.
Ben Chilwell – 5
Showed some signs of danger on the left hand side, but failed to create anything serious for the Blues. Not a captain’s showing.
Moises Caicedo – 6
Disruptive in midfield and looked better than his ‘replacement’ Carlos Baleba in the Brighton midfield. Was industrious and looked like he had a point to prove to Mauricio Pochettino.
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Lesley Ugochukwu – 6
Good in patches, but went missing for chunks of the game and failed to be too involved in the midfield at times. Fortunate to escape a red card for a lunging tackle. Definitely potential there, as for most of this Chelsea side, but looks raw and undeveloped at this point.
Cole Palmer – 8
Creative and direct for Chelsea, had his side’s best chance of the first half just before the whistle went and played some nice passes too, none better than his brilliant play to assist Nicolas Jackson’s opener.
Mykhailo Mudryk – 7
Caused lots of problems for the Brighton defence and won a number of free kicks for the Blues. Clearly a very talented player who is just yet to be unleashed or reach his full potential. Another good showing from the start, and received a standing ovation when he was subbed for Raheem Sterling.
Nicolas Jackson – 7
Ice in his veins for the Chelsea opener. Was fairly poor in the first half, but seemed a different player in the second period and much more lively. Could have had a hat-trick on another day, as he missed a 1v1 and had a second goal ruled out for offside.
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Raheem Sterling – 5 (For Mykhailo Mudryk, 69′) Decent performance after coming off the bench, saw the game out nicely for Chelsea and used his experience well.
Conor Gallagher – 5 (For Cole Palmer, 76′) – Didn’t have much time to make a real impact, worked hard as usual.
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Enzo Fernandez – 5 (For Ian Maatsen, 76′) – Saw the game out nicely for Chelsea, but didn’t have many minutes to impact the game too much.
Armando Broja – 5 (For Nicolas Jackson, 87′) – Didn’t have enough time to impact the game.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
