Chelsea player ratings: Pulisic and Alonso impress but Jorginho struggles in narrow win over Norwich
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CHELSEA kept their Champions League dreams alive with an uninspiring 1-0 win against already-relegated Norwich City.
Olivier Giroud scored the only goal of the game in first-half injury-time with a stooping header that beat Tim Krul.
Frank Lampard made five changes to the starting line-up from the shocking 3-0 loss to Sheffield United.
And while three points were secured, there is still many areas of improvement needed.
Here, Simon Phillips rates how the Chelsea lads fared at Stamford Bridge.
Kepa Arrizabalaga – 6/10
Norwich were so defensive that he hardly touched the ball. The Canaries had just two shots at goal - and neither of them were on target.
Cesar Azpilicueta – 5
This was another fairly standard performance from the captain, although he was trying to be a bit more vocal.
Always struggles to bring much to the table in an attacking sense, however.
Kurt Zouma – 6
Quiet evening for Zouma, He didn’t do much wrong and it was another steady performance from him.
Antonio Rudiger – 5
He did the basics fine, but often over hit long passes. He didn’t really have much to do at the back.
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Marcos Alonso – 8
Some good moves in an advanced left position from Alonso, he also put some decent crosses and had a good offensive game.
He came off for Reece James in the last ten minutes.
Jorginho – 4
He had a bit of a nightmare tonight and couldn’t really do anything right.
He was often bullied off the ball far too easily, lacked pace and intensity, and was just generally very poor.
Mateo Kovacic – 7
Showed some great class on the ball and good quality, but he never really brings enough offensively against such a defensive team.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek – 7
Very neat and tidy and rarely gave the ball away, but he just needs to show that extra confidence on the ball.
Willian – 5
Kept giving the ball away but he also had a few bright moments. It was a typically inconsistent display from the Brazilian.
Christian Pulisic – 8
Had an excellent shot saved well in the first half and was once again Chelsea’s main attacking threat.
He setup Giroud for Chelsea’s all important goal with a nice turn and cross.
Olivier Giroud – 6
Giroud turned up with bricks on his feet rather than football boots and could not shoot at all in the first half missing a number of chances.
But he finally got his goal late in the first half deciding to give up with his feet and use his head!
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Subs
Ross Barkley for Loftus-Cheek on 66 minutes – 5
Reece James for Marcos Alonso on 79 minutes – N/A
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Callum Hudson-Odoi for Christian Pulisic on 79 minutes – N/A
Tammy Abraham for Olivier Giroud on 85 minutes – N/A