Chelsea secured a comfortable 5-1 win over Manchester City in the fifth round of the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening.
The Blues advanced with goals from Diego Costa, Willian, Gary Cahill, Eden Hazard and Bertrand Traore as they eventually made their quality count against a much-changed lineup from Manuel Pellegrini that featured several youngsters with the Champions League in mind.
Nevertheless, Guus Hiddink’s men kept their focus and secured another impressive win as they continue to march on in the competition as well as turn their season around under the Dutch tactician’s watchful eye.
Check out how the Chelsea players featured in our player assessment below:
GK Thibaut Courtois – 6
Couldn’t have done much more with the goal as his parried effort should have been cleared by his Azpilicueta. City struggled to really test him consistently but he dealt with any danger efficiently.
DF Cesar Azpilicueta – 6
An energetic performance as ever from the Spaniard as he switched over to the right and looked comfortable for the most part.
DF Gary Cahill – 7
Was in the wars as the young City forward line proved to be a handful, but produced a commanding display and grabbed a goal to add the icing on the cake.
DF Branislav Ivanovic – 6
Similarly to Cahill, struggled at times to cope with the strength, movement and pace of the two City forwards, but will be relatively pleased with his effort.
DF Baba Rahman – 6
Defended well overall and was aways a willing runner up the field to support his teammates in their attacking moves.
MF Cesc Fabregas – 8
Although his influence slightly waned in the second half, it was a majestic display from the Spaniard as his vision, weight of pass and one-twos caused the opposition all sorts of problems.
MF Mikel – 7
A steady presence in midfield as he overcame some early sloppiness on the ball to provide the hosts with important defensive coverage to win the midfield battle.
MF Pedro – 7
A top performance from the Spanish winger as he produced one of his better efforts in a Chelsea shirt. Unlucky not to get on the scoresheet, but his movement and attacking threat were issues for City.
MF Willian – 7
As with all the Chelsea attackers, enjoyed a lot of possession and made it count in the second half with a key goal at a key time in the game.
MF Eden Hazard – 7
Although Caballero arguably made it easy for him for his freekick, it was still a reassuring display for the Belgian international as he slowly but surely gets back to becoming a decisive player for the Blues.
FW Diego Costa – 7
Took his goal well in the first half to break the deadlock, and he will continue to build momentum as he has found his goalscoring touch consistently after a tough start to the campaign.
Substitutes
Bertrand Traore – 6
Made an impact by adding a fifth goal with a bizarre effort that Caballero should have done better with, but did well in limited time.
Oscar – 5
Although he certainly made his presence known after his late introduction with several efforts on goal, his missed penalty was a real negative.
Nemanja Matic – N/A
Came on to shore things up in midfield for the final few minutes and did well in doing so.