And the nominations are:
Fabregas for one of the best debuts I have seen at Chelsea for a long while. He appears to be the missing link, and played with finesse, guile and vision as he dictated the play. Sky gave him MOTM and not Steve Gerrard for a change, and even Jose felt he was – do you dare to be different?
On any other day Diego Costa would have been a shoe in (or a boot in) for MOTM with an energetic debut capped off with a goal after 17 mins. He deserved a penalty rather than a yellow card and it was great to see a Chelsea striker making intelligent runs, holding the ball up and playing the midfielders in and of course doing what he is paid to do and score!
Finally, Brana Ivanovic deserves a nomination – he scored a goal, was full of running, and even put in an accurate cross or two, as well as being his usual indomitable self! I thought it was a shrewd selection by Jose rather than blooding Luis in a game on a wet Monday night in the grim North!
If you want to vote for the Man of the Match then all you have to do is vote below. We will be revealing the results and discussing what we voted for on the Chelsea FanCast on Tuesday 19th August. Watch the show live at 19.00-21.00 GMT (Voting closes at 19.30 GMT) by going to sportstonightlive.com or on this website here or of course you can listen and post in the chat room at Mixlr.
Here’s how you voted and what we had to say about it on the show this week:
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Cesc Fabregas simply ran the show.
Cesc, no doubt. I could hear my cubemate grousing after the 2nd goal. Also the only player in the EPL this week to be involved in all 3 goals, yet the US NBCSports didn’t have him in their starting XI. Shameful. Can’t wait for the Pod!