Chelsea were made to work hard to beat Pafos 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League.
Their Cypriot visitors fought well in west London and the score was goalless until the 78th minute when Moises Caicedo headed home the game’s only goal.
It kept alive Chelsea’s hopes of finishing in the top eight and reaching the round of 16 automatically without the need for a play-off round.
Dom Smith was at Stamford Bridge to rate the Chelsea players’ performances…
Filip Jorgensen 5
Did not have a save to make and then had to come off at half-time after signalling to the bench a number of times that he had an issue.
Malo Gusto 6
Worked hard at right-back, winning the ball back for Chelsea and driving into midfield.
Wesley Fofana 6
Decent in the air and when tracking back to chase Pafos’s runners. Operated as the right centre-back with Benoit Badiashile on the left.
Benoit Badiashile 6
Defended well on the night and one moment of inspiration saw his superb flick almost turn into an assist for Estevao.
Impressive performance from the left-back, who joined in with attacks and even forced a good save from the goalkeeper in the time he was on.
Reece James 6
Kept things ticking over nicely in midfield as he captained Chelsea but went off at half-time.
A good performance by a man who knew to try his luck from range at moments when Chelsea were struggling to break Pafos down. In the end, scored the all-important goal with a header from a corner.
Pedro Neto 6
An energetic performance from the winger, who struck over the bar in the first half but forced a good stop from range in the second.
Enzo Fernandez 6
A good performance by the Argentine but he was uninvolved for long periods. Could be forgiven, though, as he has only just recovered from an illness which he played through against Brentford.
Alejandro Garnacho 5
Did very little in the 70 minutes he was on for, before making way for Jamie Gittens.
Liam Delap 5
Pretty anonymous and ultimately taken off in favour of Joao Pedro.
Subs:
Estevao (James, 46’) 6
Came on and was a positive influence for Chelsea, running at Pafos, forcing one good save and going wide with a header.
Robert Sanchez (Jorgensen, 46’) 6
Replaced Jorgensen and did well to punch crosses and calmly pass to his centre-backs despite Pafos’s pressing intensity. Comfortable save in stoppage time to see Chelsea through to victory.
Joao Pedro (Delap, 70’) 5
Quiet display from the Brazilian, but he did produce one nice flick.
Jamie Gittens (Garnacho, 70’) 7
Very positive despite only being given 20 minutes to strut his stuff on the left flank.
Marc Cucurella (Hato, 70’) 6
Disciplined defensively in the 20 minutes he played.
Not used: Santos, Chalobah, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Walsh, Emenalo
