Chelsea ratings: Pedro shines, Willy Caballero kept quiet and Eden Hazard has an early night
Blues boss Maurizio Sarri eases off pressure for another week as his side triumph in the London derby
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CHELSEA walked away with all three points against London rivals Tottenham - as Maurizio Sarri eased the pressure for another week.
Sarri started off the night by sending "a message" to his players by dropping Kepa Arrizabalaga after his Wimbley mutiny.
Caballero was, however, kept quiet- but Spanish winger Pedro scored the opening goal and shined with a sliding tackle inside the Blues penalty spot.
Here's how SunSport rated the perofrmances of each Blues players on a positive night at Stamford Bridge.
Willy Caballero
No petulance or rebellion from this goalkeeper, who was brought in for the mutinous Kepa. Kept the important clean sheet and was generally a strong, reassuring presence for Chelsea.
Cesar Azpilicueta
Managed to rile the normally placid England captain Harry Kane, who escaped a potential red card after appearing to headbutt the Spanish defender. Led by captain’s example throughout
Antonio Rudiger
The German came off worse when he collided with goalkeeper Willy during one defensive set-piece. Otherwise he hardly put a foot wrong as he kept Kane and Heung-Min Son at bay.
David Luiz
Robust defending from the Brazilian. Made one brilliant intervention on 32 minutes to nip the ball away from Erik Lamela. He later took a painful knock off Lamela but battled on for the remainder of the second half.
Marcos Alonso
The booing from the Tottenham fans didn’t perturb him at all. Good defending to deprive Son midway through the first half. A solid display.
N'Golo Kante
A typical Kante performance. Covered every blade of grass. As tenacious as a Jack Russell Terrier. Needs to work on his wayward shooting, though, but at least it shows the World Cup winner does have a flaw.
Jorginho
You can see why he gets so much stick from Chelsea fans. Sloppy at times in possession. And generally could have offered more in attack. The jury is still out on his arrival this season.
Mateo Kovacic
A busy game for the Croatian midfielder. Gave the ball away at times, but was also compact in his defending and not shy in making forward, thrusting runs.
Pedro
Excellent feet to turn Tottenham centre-half Toby Alderweireld inside out before scoring through the legs of the hapless goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Also made the tackle of the match to deny Christian Eriksen on 63 minutes.
Gonzalo Higuain
Hit the post with a sliced half-volley. Scandalously didn’t hit the target following a Lloris error. Thought he had scored in the second half but it was correctly ruled out for offside.
Eden Hazard
Surprisingly subbed off on 60 minutes. Until then, the Belgium playmaker had created plenty of havoc for the Tottenham defence and was at the heart of most attacks. Started the move from which Pedro scored the winner.
Subs used
Willian
A direct replacement for Hazard (on 60 minutes) and fulfilled the role perfectly, terrorising the Tottenham full-back Kieran Trippier at most opportunities.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek
The England central midfielder came on for Mateo Kovacic on 77 minutes and gave a commanding cameo as Chelsea secured a valuable triumph over their London rivals.
Olivier Giroud
Replaced Higuain on 83 minutes and within seconds had an impact. His header goalbound fell to the feet of Trippoer but the full-back unexplainably panicked and scored an own goal.