Chelsea Player Ratings vs. Hull: Blues Breeze Through to Fifth Round

Chelsea booked their place in the next round of the FA Cup with a comprehensive 4–0 victory over Hull City on Friday.

A wasteful first-half showing from Chelsea saw Estêvão miss an open goal and Liam Delap fall foul of goal-line technology in the heavy snow, but Pedro Neto’s glorious strike from range five minutes before the break gave the Blues the lead their performance merited.

Neto’s vicious front-post corner somehow ended up in the back of the net five minutes after the restart, before Estêvão powered home a third shortly before the hour mark.

Chelsea’s No. 7 completed his hat-trick 10 minutes later, finishing off an excellent team move to cap off a near-perfect evening for the Blues.

Winners and Losers

Another frustrating showing from Alejandro Garnacho. | Chelsea FC/Getty Images

Winners

Pedro Neto was given the nod in the central attacking midfield role, and he justified Liam Rosenior’s faith with a lively performance. The Portugal international regularly dropped deep to dictate play but made the difference himself with a real variety of quality finishes.

It was an impressive first showing from Mamadou Sarr, who was making his first appearance since being recalled from Strasbourg. While there can be no denying the fact he will soon face tougher tests than this, Sarr looked comfortable and confident on both sides of the ball.

Loser

Fans have voiced their frustrations towards Alejandro Garnacho in recent weeks, and the sentiment will not have changed after this performance. Despite being up against objectively inferior competition, the Argentine rarely looked comfortable. Missed a good chance early on and it all seemed to go downhill from there.

Chelsea Player Ratings vs. Hull (4-2-3-1)

Andrey Santos, Mamadou Sarr, Estêvão — Estêvão added Chelsea’s third. | Oli SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images

*Ratings provided by FotMob*

GK: Robert Sánchez—8.6: Almost had nothing to do before being called into action in the final 10 minutes. A smart stoppage-time save to preserve his clean sheet.

RB: Reece James—7.1: A dominant defensive performance. Regularly made light work of his winger. Involved so much more in attack in the second half before being wisely withdrawn on the hour mark on his return from illness and injury.

CB: Wesley Fofana—7.7: Didn’t face many defensive issues and was instead allowed to flash his ball-playing abilities. Showed a technical quality we don’t always see from the Frenchman.

CB: Mamadou Sarr—7.6: Caught the eye on his first start since returning. Really comfortable at the back and, like Fofana, flashed some real quality on the ball to keep things ticking.

LB: Jorrel Hato—7.0: Brought energy down the left as he did his best to get involved in attack. Gave as good as he got at the back.

DM: Moisés Caicedo—7.9: Didn’t really need his defensive abilities, instead being tasked with creating chances. Did well in that regard without ever really standing out. Made a notable interception to block a dangerous cross shortly after Neto’s second goal.

DM: Andrey Santos—7.9: Kept Chelsea ticking over with some smart passes. Looking increasingly comfortable at the base of midfield.

RM: Estêvão—8.0: As lively as ever but mixed quality in the final third. Rounded the goalkeeper in the first half but managed to balloon his effort over the bar, but made no such mistake after Delap put one on a plate for him in the second half.

AM: Pedro Neto—9.7: Should have scored early on but eventually got the goals his lively performance deserved. His first was delightful and his second was somewhat fortuitous, and he capped off a memorable showing with a smart hat-trick.

LM: Alejandro Garnacho—8.0: Created a nice chance early on but settled back into his frustrating ways, struggling to force his way past his defender.

ST: Liam Delap—9.3: A comical miss which saw him celebrate too early seemed to set off a series of mistakes from Delap in the first half. Redeemed himself after the break with two impressive assists and technically ended the game with three after a simple pass to Neto for the opener.

SUB: Enzo Fernández (60’ for Caicedo)—6.3: Didn’t need to get out of second gear as he just kept things ticking.

SUB: Josh Acheampong (60’ for James)—6.3: A lightning-fast run down the right just moments after his arrival reminded fans of what he can do.

SUB: Tosin Adarabioyo (76’ for Fofana)—6.4: Had to do more defending during his limited minutes than Fofana did before him.

SUB: Jesse Derry (76’ for Estêvão)—6.5: A few bright flashes on a comfortable senior debut.

SUB: Shim Mheuka (87’ for Delap)—N/A

Subs not used: Teddy Sharman-Lowe (GK), Benoît Badiashile, Malo Gusto, João Pedro

What the Ratings Tell Us

Reece James stood out on his return. | Andrew Kearns/CameraSport/Getty Images

Mamadou Sarr is ready for a major role this season. Liam Rosenior requested his return from Strasbourg and it is clear the young defender understands what the manager wants. Tougher tests will come but this was an encouraging start.
Liam Delap is doing his best to compete with João Pedro. The Brazilian is in sensational form, meaning Delap needed a good showing here to keep himself in contention for Premier League games. He let himself down in the first half but reminded Rosenior of what he can do with two brilliant assists in the second.
Chelsea are so much better when Reece James is playing. The club captain is now back from injury and illness and proved exactly why fans have been desperate to have him back over the past few weeks.

The Numbers That Explain Chelsea’s Comfortable Win

Pedro Neto, Jorrel Hato — A dominant performance. | Chelsea FC/Getty Images

By racking up a whopping 76% possession, Chelsea really flexed their dominance. Hull were never given a chance to get into the game.
Hull may have taken 10 shots, but they ended with zero big chances created against a Chelsea defensive which rarely looked like conceding.
The quality of Pedro Neto’s first two goals is reflected in Chelsea’s surprisingly low final xG of 1.68, which does not exactly do justice to the level of Chelsea’s dominance.

Statistic	Hull	Chelsea
Possession	24%	76%
Expected Goals (xG)	0.87	1.68
Total Shots	10	13
Shots on Target	3	8
Big Chances	0	2
Passing Accuracy	66%	92%
Fouls Committed	6	10
Corners	7	4