CHELSEA fought hard to a 3-1 win at Brighton tonight.
Goals from Jorginho, Reece James and Kurt Zouma secured all three points for Frank Lampard’s men.
Reece James scored a rocket as Chelsea beat Brighton 3-1Credit: Reuters
But who was the best player on the pitch for Chelsea?
And did anybody have a stinker?
Here, Simon Phillips gives his Chelsea player ratings…
Kepa Arrizabalaga – 4/10
He made a couple of good saves but continued to flap at crosses and conceded a very soft goal for Brighton’s equaliser.
Reece James – 7
He was a bit shaky in the first half, but more than made up for it with a world class long range finish to put Chelsea 2-1 up in the second half.
Kurt Zouma – 8
Scored Chelsea’s third goal and he took that well, it was a good defensive performance from the Frenchman.
Andreas Christensen – 9
The player once touted as the next John Terry certainly put on a performance closer to the standard of the Chelsea legend. He was solid, convincing, and good on the ball.
Andreas Christensen showed shades of John Terry in defenceCredit: AFP or licensors
Marcos Alonso – 6
The Spaniard will be having nightmares featuring Tariq Lamptey when he goes to sleep – the former Chelsea youngster gave the Spaniard the absolute run around all game.
Jorginho – 6
Did a job and took his penalty well as per usual, but he didn’t really control the game like Lampard would have liked.
N’Golo Kante – 6
Kante was rather quiet throughout the game, but a lot like Jorginho, he largely did what he needed to do without being a stand out performer.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek – 4
This was an awful game to forget for Loftus-Cheek, constantly giving the ball away. He was rightly put out of his misery on 60 minutes being replaced by Ross Barkley.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek had a game to forget as the No10Credit: Reuters
Kai Havertz – 5
Playing out wide meant he really struggled to get involved in the game and was very quiet all night. Not really a debut to remember for Chelsea’s new German international and he came off for Hudson-Odoi on 79 minutes.
Mason Mount – 6
Full of energy as usual but didn’t really bring much extra to the play. He worked a lot harder in the second half as well though to help Alonso deal with Lamptey.
Timo Werner – 9 (MOTM)
The other debutant was Chelsea’s liveliest attacking and caused constant issues for Brighton, winning the penalty well in the first half and full of dangerous pace.
Timo Werner was Chelsea’s best player on his competitive debutCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Subs: Ross Barkley (60 mins) – 8
Barkley made a positive impact when he came on, constantly driving with the ball and looking dangerous in attack.
Callum Hudson-Odoi (79 mins) – 6
Cesar Azpilicueta (85 mins) – N/A
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard thinks that new signing Kai Havertz can play in any position
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
