Chelsea boss Graham Potter finally has something to smile about this week after the Blues looked to build momentum after their 2-0 midweek Champions League round of sixteen 2nd leg win against German giants Borussia Dortmund, and can travel back to the capital in style thanks to a 3-1 win against Leicester City.
Goals from Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz, and Mateo Kovačić were enough to cancel out Patson Daka’s 39th-minute equalizer at the King Power Stadium while seeing Chelsea end their away day bugbear and securing their first three-point haul away from Stamford Bridge for the first time since 16 October at Aston Villa. Though Chelsea still sit tenth in the table, there certainly may be cause for optimism brewing at the club given their response this week.
Ukrainian starlet Mykhailo Mudryk finally got off and running in terms of goal contributions as well, adding his first assist in English football on Kovačić's effort that afforded the Blues a two-goal cushion eleven minutes from the end of normal time.
It wasn’t a dominant performance by Potter’s men, but few will complain as results are the priority at current in west London, with Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes certainly crafting out enough chances of their own in front of home support.
But it was not enough for Leicester who has now embarked on a four-match losing run and now find themselves one point clear of the bottom three and heavily engaged in a relegation scrap that seemingly has no end in sight in a very frustrating 2022-23 campaign under their Northern Irish headmaster.
Leicester City Player Ratings
- GK: Danny Ward - 6.5
- RCB: Daniel Amartey - -5.5
- CB: Harry Souttar - 6.5
- LCB: Wout Faes - 4
- RWB: Ricardo Pereira - 7
- LWB: Timothy Castagne - 7
- CM: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall - 7
- CM: Nampalys Mendy - 6.5
- CAM: James Maddison - 7.5
- RF: Kelechi Iheanacho - 7
- LF: Patson Daka - 7.5
- Sub: Boubakary Soumaré - 6
- Sub: Tetê - 6
- Sub: Harvey Barnes - 6
- Sub: Jamie Vardy - 6
- Sub: Jonny Evans - 6
Chelsea Player Ratings
- GK: Kepa Arrizabalaga - 7
- RCB: Wesley Fofana - 6.5
- CB: Kalidou Koulibaly - 7.5
- LCB: Marc Cucurella - 7.5
- RWB: Ruben Loftus-Cheek - 7
- LWB: Ben Chilwell - 7.5
- CM: Enzo Fernández - 7.5
- CM: Mateo Kovačić - 8
- RAM: Mykhailo Mudryk - 7
- LAM: João Félix - 5.5
- CF: Kai Havertz - 8
- Sub: Conor Gallagher - 7
- Sub: Christian Pulisic - 6
- Sub: Trevoh Chalobah - 6
- Sub: Carney Chukwuemeka - 6
- Sub: Benoît Badiashile - 6
