Pat Nevin thinks Cesar Azpilicueta was Chelsea’s man of the match against Arsenal on Sunday.
Unfortunately, Chelsea were beaten 1-0 over the weekend at home to Arsenal in the Premier League.
Graham Potter’s side are winless in four league games now, so the pressure is beginning to mount on this team.
It’s obvious that the Blues were completely lacking at the top end of the pitch when it came to creating chances against Arsenal, but they did defend well for the most part.
Azpilicueta against Arsenal
Nevin did single out Chelsea’s club captain as a rare positive from the weekend’s loss against league leaders Arsenal.
In particular, he appreciated how aggressive the experienced defender was.
“There is a very good argument that Cesar Azpilicueta was our man of the match against Arsenal. Gabriel Martinelli has been in superb form of late, but he got very little change out of Cesar who was at his tenacious best yet again,” Nevin said.
Azpilicueta, 33, did prove his worth to the squad by slotting in as a right-back in a back four against Arsenal.
It wasn’t a faultless performance from the £150,000-a-week defender, losing winning goalscorer Gabriel Magalhaes from a corner kick.
However, the Spanish full-back actually stuck to his task fairly well against an in-form opponent.
Azpilicueta has already played 15 games across all competitions this season, which is perhaps more than many supporters would have anticipated.
With Reece James sidelined through injury, the workload has increased on Azpilicueta.
There’s no doubt he’s always going to give 100 per cent for the badge on his chest and he’s still very capable slotting in as a full-back or centre-back.
However, you just can’t overlook how much this Chelsea side do miss James on the right flank.
Keep up to date with all the latest Chelsea news and opinion by following The Chelsea Chronicle’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox
