Chelsea ratings: Mateo Kovacic stars in midfield but Mason Mount wasteful against Newcastle

CHELSEA bagged a fifth win in a row under Thomas Tuchel by downing Newcastle 2-0 on Monday night.

A first goal since November for summer signing Timo Werner added to Olivier Giroud’s opener, which was set up by Werner.

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Mateo Kovacic put in another all-action display for ChelseaCredit: EPA

The Frenchman had only taken to the field a few minutes earlier after an injury to starting striker Tammy Abraham.

Here, SunSport’s Simon Phillips hands out his ratings for the Chelsea players at Stamford Bridge.

Kepa Arrizabalaga – 7

As Chelsea goalkeepers have recently become accustomed to, Kepa really didn’t have a lot to do.

He was tested a few times as the game went on and made some good saves.

Cesar Azpilicueta – 7

An experienced and influential performance from the captain.

Some important tackles and defending when needed, and always contributing well further up the pitch.

Antonio Rudiger – 8

Great energy and great intensity from him, literally racing at one point to get back in and defend on a counter attack.

Worked very hard for the team and showed a lot of desire to get the three points.

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Chelsea kept their fifth clean sheet in six games under Thomas TuchelCredit: Reuters Andreas Christensen – 6

A few silly mistakes from him in the first-half tarnished his performance a little bit, but he was never under too much pressure and he largely contributed well to the win.

Callum Hudson-Odoi – 8

Always threatening the Newcastle backline in attack and he was actually very good defensively for Chelsea tonight, working hard to track back and get a couple of important tackles in.

Jorginho – 7

Gave away a couple of silly passes, but he did his job well and did what he needed to do to keep Chelsea moving from deep.

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Chelsea went fourth with a 2-0 win on MondayCredit: Getty Images – Getty Mateo Kovacic – 9

Another class performance from a class player. Kovacic is literally Chelsea’s heartbeat right now, everything goes through him and he is so comfortable receiving the ball anywhere on the pitch and doing something positive with it.

Marcos Alonso – 6

Looked a bit lazy with some passes but he worked well to create space for Werner out on the left and was always a threat going forward.

Timo Werner – 8

Probably his best game in a Chelsea shirt so far. He was doing it all, sprinting back to help defend, setting up goals, scoring goals, and doing it all despite leaking blood from his mouth after a clash early on.

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Timo Werner finally got back among the goals against NewcastleCredit: AFP or llicensors AFP or Licensors Mason Mount – 6

Hard-working as always and he always drifts over to link up well with Hudson-Odoi.

Still needs to work on his finishing and could have scored in the first-half.

Gave the ball away too often in the second-half and wasn’t his best game in a Chelsea shirt.

Tammy Abraham – 6

Only lasted 19 minutes before being injured in penalty box challenge.

Substitutes Olivier Giroud (On for Abraham, 20 mins) – 7

Came on and put Chelsea 1-0 up within minutes and proved his reliability to always come on and make a difference when needed.

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N’Golo Kante (On for Mount, 70 mins) – 6

Came in and shored things up a bit in midfield for Chelsea.

Reece James (On for Hudson-Odoi, 78 mins) – N/A

Follow Simon on Twitter @SPTalksCFC

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