Calum McFarlane finally stopped Chelsea’s run of consecutive losses with a narrow 1-0 win over Leeds United at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final on Sunday, and below are our player ratings.
After Liam Rosenior’s sacking and five Premier League defeats in a row, Chelsea’s chances of FA Cup success were placed on the shoulders of interim manager Calum McFarlane against in-form Leeds United.
Yet, McFarlane managed to mastermind a big win for Chelsea, with Enzo Fernández scoring the only goal of the game. Below, we rate Chelsea’s players as the Rosenior rot was finally extinguished by McFarlane.
Chelsea player ratings in FA Cup win v Leeds United
Robert Sanchez – 9
An uncharacteristically superb performance from Sanchez. Comfortable in possession and some crucial saves to deny Brenden Aaronson at 0-0, and then Anton Stach just after the restart. Deserved clean sheet.
Chelsea’s player ratings v Leeds: Do YOU agree?
Gusto and Sanchez excellent!
Malo Gusto – 8
Gusto probably had Chelsea’s toughest task of the game, having to deal with Noah Okafor. Leeds’ biggest threat, yet Gusto dealt with him well. On the ball, the Frenchman showed some delightful touches.
Tosin Adarabioyo – 6
A surprise inclusion, Tosin was preferred to Wesley Fofana and Jorrel Hato. In the eyes of Chelsea fans, it was the right one, given Fofana’s form in recent weeks. He did his job, without ever really excelling.
Trevoh Chalobah – 6
Chalobah put his body on the line, playing 90 minutes again despite only just returning from what looked like a serious ankle injury. Solid without excelling, not particularly required to get out of second gear.
Marc Cucurella – 6
Cucurella and Jayden Bogle enjoyed a right old battle on Chelsea’s left, and although he was nutmegged on one occasion, Cucurella got the better of Bogle. Offered very little going forward, however.
Moises Caicedo – 5
Deserved a yellow card inside the first minute, and for that reason, probably lucky not to have been sent off when he fouled Anton Stach and got a yellow. Caught in possession, his bad run of form continues.
Romeo Lavia – 5 (replaced by Santos, ’66)
Virtually non-existent in the middle of the park. With much of the game on the flanks, Lavia did little more than pass the ball sideways. But more minutes under the belt for the midfielder after a difficult start.
Pedro Neto – 7
Strong running and looked up for it, having a little push around with James Justin inside the first minute. Decent display from the Portuguese winger who got Chelsea up the pitch, and the assist for Fernandez.
Embarrassing dive to the floor when tangling with Jayden Bogle late on.
Enzo Fernandez – 8
Answered his critics with a perfect Frank Lampard-style run into the box, to get his head on the end of a Neto cross. Bustling performance in the middle of the park and Ally McCoist’s man of the match; very fair.
Alejandro Garnacho – 4 (replaced by Palmer, ’71)
Similar problems for Garnacho. Toothless going forward and then when Chelsea required him to track back, he failed to do it. If Aaronson had scored his early chance, Garnacho would have been to blame.
Joao Pedro – 7 (replaced by Delap, ’97)
My goodness, Chelsea look a different side when Pedro is leading the line. He came close with a couple of half-chances in the first half but it was merely the Brazilian’s presence that caused Leeds problems.
Subs
Andrey Santos – 5
Didn’t really do much after coming on for the last 30 minutes. Kept things simple.
Cole Palmer – 5
His biggest involvement was a yellow card.
Liam Delap – N/A
Came on with 90 seconds of injury time to play.
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