A poor display against Burnley was forgotten at Wembley on Sunday as Chelsea bounced back from their shock opening defeat with a win against Spurs. Marcos Alonso scored both the goals in a 2-1 win but he wasn’t the only standout performer in the Chelsea side so here are 3 contenders for Man of the Match this week.
Andreas Christensen
The academy product has come into the first team for the first time this season after 2 years on loan in Germany and boy has he improved. Christensen marshaled Harry Kane as well as anyone has over the past 2 or 3 seasons; limiting the Golden Boot holder to very few opportunities to have a shot on goal and being strong against the striker. The Dane played in the middle of the back 3 and looked to grow into this role more as the game went on. A shaky youngster transformed into a solid defender as the minutes ticked by but there is still room for improvement.
David Luiz
The Brazilian played in midfield for the first time under Antonio Conte and, as his manager said in his post-match interview, he did exactly what Conte wanted. Luiz hassled and harried Spurs’ midfielders along with his two French sidekicks – most of the time he played by the rules. He was brought down by Dele Alli on the edge of the opposition area and the resulting free kick was scored by Alonso to give Chelsea the lead. He received some rough treatment from the likes of Eric Dier as well as the home crowd but it was Luiz who got the last laugh as his side ran out 2-1 winners and he played an instrumental part in that.
Man of the Match – Marcos Alonso
Alonso will be the hero with the headlines and rightly so. His two goals were enough for all three points at Wembley and the first one was sublime. The Spaniard lined up a free kick around 25 yards from goal which he whipped over the wall and into the top corner, past a flailing Hugo Lloris. His second wasn’t as easy on the eye but it was far more dramatic. Pedro slipped in Alonso on the far-left of the area and, at a tight angle, he drilled the ball through Hugo Lloris and into the net before racing towards the away fans in the corner. His overall performance wasn’t extraordinary but his goals were so important that he deserved Man of the Match this week and I suspect the Chelsea fans will be having second thoughts on spending millions on Alex Sandro.
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