I had figured that this was Lavia’s first ever Man of the Match for us, but it turns out I was wrong. He was voted to the top of the podium in our opening match of the 2024-25 season, a 2-0 home defeat against Manchester City. It was Lavia’s first ever start for Chelsea, over twelve months after initially signing. As it turned out, the injuries weren’t done with him yet.
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So here we are, another twice twelve months on, and for the first time in his Chelsea career, Lavia truly looks healthy and fit. I probably just jinxed him. Not only did he start his second match in 72 hours, he went the distance both times: the full-90, to put a stop to that narrative once and for all (only took him 51 appearances!).
If he can stay healthy, this game was a most exciting glimpse of what he could yet still be. After all, he is still just 22. His whole career practically lies ahead.
The Red seas parted and Rogers burst through to dink the ball over the goalkeeper’s shoulder and into the back of the net for his team-leading sixth goal in all competitions (and fifth in the league). That gives him ten goal contributions in his first twelve Chelsea games (6+4) — not a bad start to life for our record-signing!
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Rogers also leads the team in minutes played, which is fairly rare for an attacking player. (Cole Palmer’s second.)
Steve-o’s certainly nowhere near the minutes-played leaderboard, but he finally got his chance and was only kept off the scoresheet by a couple offside calls (one obvious, the other quite unlucky). Everyone was quite delighted for the youngster, including the manager. More minutes incoming then?
“He had the best response and showed that he deserves more and that he was prepared, and that is what we want from our players. So we’re very happy for him. He deserves to enjoy this game; he had a good connection with the crowd and was really close to scoring his goal. He fought really hard and at the end he was tired, but it has been a good day for him.”
-Xabi Alonso; source: Chelsea FC
EXCEPTIONAL (8.5-9.5): —
EXCELLENT (7.5-8.4): Lavia (8.4), Rogers (8.0), Estêvão (7.9), Penders (7.5)
GOOD (6.5-7.4): Acheampong (7.4), Caicedo (7.0), Palmer (6.8), Colwill (6.7)
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AVERAGE (5.5-6.4): Neto (6.4), Chavarría (6.2, sub), Barco (6.0, sub), Palestra (5.9), Welbeck (5.6, sub), Quenda (5.5, sub), Gusto (5.5, sub)
SUBPAR (4.5-5.4): —
BAD (3.5-4.4): Fofana (4.1)
TERRIBLE (2.5-3.4): —
