Written by: @JGriffithJourno

David Martin: 9

A clean sheet on his debut and a tear at full-time. David Martin; the hero we didn’t know we needed, but the one we deserved.

Ryan Fredericks: 7

Lost Pulisic a few too many times but it proved to not be costly and he was a good outlet going forwards as always.

Fabian Balbuena: 7

His most competent performance in months and really stepped up with some crucial blocks filling in for the suspended Diop.

Angelo Ogbonna: 9

Our ‘Hammer of the Year’ so far was gargantuan once again as he made Giroud look like a Sunday league striker.

Aaron Cresswell: 8

Suspect as usual defensively but his retained place in the team was justified with a brilliant winning goal.

Mark Noble: 8

Three tackles, plenty of passes and one piece of skill which sent Mason Mount back to the U23’s.  London Derbies really do turn our captain into prime Zinedine Zidane don’t they?

Declan Rice: 9 – MOTM

Without Rice we do not win this game. He covered every blade of grass, was unbelievable at breaking up play and his passing improves with every match.

Robert Snodgrass: 8

Ran his socks off as usual but also backed this up with some fantastic crosses, one of which would have made the last 20 minutes a lot comfier had the ball not struck Antonio’s hand on the way into the net.

Felipe Anderson: 6

Looked much better through the middle but still not at his best yet. He looked frustrated when coming off which is hopefully a sign of frustration with himself knowing he can do so much better.

Pablo Fornals: 6

Showed glimpses of the player we hoped we had signed, but not regularly enough. Grabbed an assist but he also slowed down play too much when we had good counter-attacking opportunities.

Michail Antonio: 7

Didn’t give the Chelsea defence a moments rest and it was his pressing, movement and hold-up play that won us the game. Perhaps should have had a couple of goals himself though.

Subs:

Andriy Yarmolenko: 5

Did not impact the game whatsoever.

Sebastien Haller: 5

Again, didn’t impact the game too much.

Arthur Masuaku: 5

Looked relatively exciting on the left and is good to see Pellegrini tinkering with tactics and trying the tricky full-back further forward, but ultimately (you guessed it) did not impact the game we had already won!