EPL 2017/18: Chelsea 5-0 Stoke City - Player Ratings

Chelsea cruised to a comfortable victory over injury-hit Stoke City at Stamford Bridge to temporarily leapfrog Manchester United to second place in the Premier League. Goals from Antonio Rudiger, Danny Drinkwater and Pedro within the first quarter effectively ended the tie as a contest. Willian and Davide Zappacosta scored further goals in the second half to complete the rout.

Here are the Player Ratings from a one-sided affair in London:

Chelsea

Thibaut Courtois - 6.5

Courtois was hardly needed by Chelsea during the game, except for an important save to deny Saido Berahino early in the second half.

Cesar Azpilicueta - 7

Azpilicueta had the freedom to move forward thanks to Stoke's emphasis on defence. He put in a couple of teasing balls to favourite target Morata as well.

Gary Cahill - 7

Cahill barely had any defensive organisation to sort out - such was Chelsea's domination of the game.

Antonio Rudiger - 7.5

Rudiger headed the hosts in front against a static Potters' defence within the opening two minutes. He had the license to drive into the opposition's penalty box multiple times despite being a centre-back, as Stoke deployed 6 at the back and thus left oceans of space in midfield.

Victor Moses - 7

Moses won the early free-kick that led to Chelsea going ahead and outran Ramadan Sobhi throughout his time on the right-wing. He was taken off early to keep him fresh for the clash against Arsenal.

N'Golo Kante - 7

Kante did his usual clean-up work whenever Stoke attempted to move up the field. His passing was purposeful as well.

Danny Drinkwater - 8.5

The ex-Leicester midfielder starred given a rare opportunity to start. He put Chelsea firmly in the driver's seat with an excellent drive off the outside of his boot. He passed the ball beautifully - the pick of them being a diagonally long ball to find an onrushing Moses on the right.

Marcos Alonso - 7

Alonso made a number of forward runs down the left side, forcing Mame Biram Diouf to track him owing to Stoke's narrow back four.

Willian - 9

Willian was fantastic in an attacking position for the Blues. The chemistry between him, Pedro and Morata were too much for Stoke's makeshift defence to handle. His set-pieces and layoff balls were a joy to watch and many levels above the quality of opposition. His penalty to wrap up the points was nothing more than he deserved for an outstanding performance.

Alvaro Morata - 5

Morata gets struck down for missing numerous one-on-one opportunities to score - denied by Jack Butland every duel.

Pedro - 8

Pedro - like Willian - was in fine form on the left side of the attacking trio, teasing young Tom Edward with his forward surges. He easily rounded off Josh Tymon to find space to get a shot away and beat Butland to put Chelsea 3 goals to the good.

Substitutes:

Davide Zappacosta - 7.5

Zappacosta replaced Moses to devastating effect, making surge after surge towards the right byline and managing to get crosses into the box. A poor defensive header from Josh Tymon allowed him to take advantage and score his first league goal for Chelsea.

Tiemoue Bakayoko - 6.5

Bakayoko saw the game out for Chelsea with some neat passes through the heart of Stoke's midfield.

Michy Batshuayi - 5

Batshuayi didn't have much work to do since coming on for Morata. He had just a single shot at goal, which went wide of the target.

Stoke City

Jack Butland - 7

Butland had a busy 90 minutes, making a number of saves. He could not be individually faulted for any of Chelsea's strikes.

Tom Edwards - 4

The teenage full-back was absolutely battered by the runs and movement of Pedro - who was allowed to play narrow thanks to Stoke's back-six formation. He was constantly out-run and out-thought by the Spaniard.

Geoff Cameron - 4

Being an experienced outfielder, Cameron failed to bring any defensive organization or communication to a young Stoke City back-line. The marking by Cameron for Rudiger's goal was poor, so was his decision not to clear the ball with Willian approaching, in the process tripping the Brazilian and conceding a penalty.

Kevin Wimmer - 6

Wimmer was forced into making a plethora of clearances and blocks from crosses as Chelsea's wave of attacks showed no signs of wading away. It was a difficult afternoon for the Austrian.

Josh Tymon - 4

Tymon is another young fullback who had a day to forget at Stamford Bridge. He was up against in-form Willian and was always going to end up second-best. He was rounded off too easily by Pedro for the third goal. A daft clearance to give Zappacosta the opportunity to score his first Premier League goal summed up the former Hull City defender's afternoon.

Darren Fletcher - 5

Fletcher had to cover up the yards in midfield as his side played six at the back in order to close Chelsea out. It was too mammoth a task for the ageing skipper

Charlie Adam - 7

Adam was, by far, the most effective of the Stoke players, creating two massive goal-scoring opportunities - one which was ruled out for handball while the other saved by Courtois. His passing range was appreciable.

Mame Biram Diouf - 5

Diouf provided a rare moment of quality for Stoke, taking down a Charlie Adam lofted pass before slotting skilfully past Thibaut Courtois - only to be controversially disallowed for handball. He was given the thankless task of following Marcos Alonso's runs and occasionally looked disinterested on the pitch.

Ibrahim Afellay - 6

Afellay was the busiest Potters' player when they had possession. He made numerous attempts to get the ball out of his feet to get Stoke moving forward, but he was always getting outnumbered in midfield.

Ramadan Sobhi - 5

Ramadan was resigned to tracking the runs of Victor Moses and Davide Zappacosta, as Stoke's full-backs played very narrow in order to close out the gaps in the defence. He struggled with an unfamiliar responsibility and hardly made an impact going forward.

Saido Berahino - 5.5

Berahino's long goal-drought continues, as he was more or less isolated upfront. He made forward runs but there was no service for Stoke's number nine. He forced Courtois into making a save after he was put through by Charlie Adam.

Substitutes:

Julien Ngoy - 4

Ngoy looked massively unfit as he came on, being outpaced by Davide Zappacosta on the wing.

Eric Maxim Choupa-Moting - 5

The Cameroonian forward made no real impact since replacing Adam, making just a handful of passes.