Chelsea player ratings: Timo Werner shines on debut but Ruben Loftus-Cheek has game to forget against Brighton

CHELSEA fought hard to a 3-1 win at Brighton tonight.

Goals from Jorginho, Reece James and Kurt Zouma secured all three points for Frank Lampard’s men.

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Reece James scored a rocket as Chelsea beat Brighton 3-1Credit: Reuters

But who was the best player on the pitch for Chelsea?

And did anybody have a stinker?

Here, Simon Phillips gives his Chelsea player ratings…

Kepa Arrizabalaga – 4/10

He made a couple of good saves but continued to flap at crosses and conceded a very soft goal for Brighton’s equaliser.

Reece James – 7

He was a bit shaky in the first half, but more than made up for it with a world class long range finish to put Chelsea 2-1 up in the second half.

Kurt Zouma – 8

Scored Chelsea’s third goal and he took that well, it was a good defensive performance from the Frenchman.

Andreas Christensen – 9

The player once touted as the next John Terry certainly put on a performance closer to the standard of the Chelsea legend. He was solid, convincing, and good on the ball.

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Andreas Christensen showed shades of John Terry in defenceCredit: AFP or licensors

Marcos Alonso – 6

The Spaniard will be having nightmares featuring Tariq Lamptey when he goes to sleep – the former Chelsea youngster gave the Spaniard the absolute run around all game.

Jorginho – 6

Did a job and took his penalty well as per usual, but he didn’t really control the game like Lampard would have liked.

N’Golo Kante – 6

Kante was rather quiet throughout the game, but a lot like Jorginho, he largely did what he needed to do without being a stand out performer.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek – 4

This was an awful game to forget for Loftus-Cheek, constantly giving the ball away. He was rightly put out of his misery on 60 minutes being replaced by Ross Barkley.

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Ruben Loftus-Cheek had a game to forget as the No10Credit: Reuters

Kai Havertz – 5

Playing out wide meant he really struggled to get involved in the game and was very quiet all night. Not really a debut to remember for Chelsea’s new German international and he came off for Hudson-Odoi on 79 minutes.

Mason Mount – 6

Full of energy as usual but didn’t really bring much extra to the play. He worked a lot harder in the second half as well though to help Alonso deal with Lamptey.

Timo Werner – 9 (MOTM)

The other debutant was Chelsea’s liveliest attacking and caused constant issues for Brighton, winning the penalty well in the first half and full of dangerous pace.

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Timo Werner was Chelsea’s best player on his competitive debutCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

Subs: Ross Barkley (60 mins) – 8

Barkley made a positive impact when he came on, constantly driving with the ball and looking dangerous in attack.

Callum Hudson-Odoi (79 mins) – 6

Cesar Azpilicueta (85 mins) – N/A

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard thinks that new signing Kai Havertz can play in any position