6 of 7 duels won and 44 of 47 passes – controversial star puts up great stats as Blues win

He stayed out of trouble, and his numbers were superb, mainly in keeping a vital clean sheet for the Blues, according to FotMob. Cucurella finished the game with an impressive 7.8 rating when all was said and done.

He made 11 defensive contributions. Only Elliot Anderson (12) had more. The Spaniard made a superb 4 tackles, along with 2 interceptions, 1 block, 4 recoveries, 4 clearances and a headed clearance. He wasn’t dribbled past once, despite some really threatening wingers in red.

He won 4 of his 5 duels on the ground, and 2 out of 2 in the air. Nobody else on the pitch won that many with that high a success rate.

With 44 of 47 passes completed and 3 of 4 long balls successful, you couldn’t ask for much more in possession either. Considering he played for Spain in midweek, that’s really good going. He’s showing great consistency and amazingly has managed to stay on the pitch while so many of his teammates are losing their heads and getting sent off.

In other news…

Josh Acheampong was another defender who put up some superb defensive numbers in the game, and he’s really looking to have made the step up to a fully trusted Premier League centre back now.

Diego Moreira is another young player we’ve shuffled around in recent years – and there’s a sense we may have cashed in on him too soon, given he’s now being linked with a move back to Stamford Bridge.