Aston Villa returned from their journey to Stamford Bridge on Sunday with all three points in the bag, having crushed Chelsea by way of an outstanding end by Ollie Watkins in the 73rd minute, 15 after Malo Gusto was despatched off for a nasty problem on Lucas Digne.
A shocking end result, maybe, at first look, however not a lot when all of the elements are thought-about and brought under consideration.
No approach up for Chelsea?
Having had a foul season by their typical requirements final time round and with no European soccer to distract them now, Chelsea have been anticipated to enhance considerably and compete on the very high, and that’s with out even contemplating the cash they spent on summer time reinforcements, or the appointment of somebody like Mauricio Pochettino to take cost of the crew. And but, thus far, they’ve managed to do even worse.
With six rounds of the campaign now gone, Chelsea sit in 14th place with not more than 5 points, and it might maybe be mentioned that they’re out of the top-four race already. They misplaced three of these six matches, drawing twice and beating solely newly promoted Luton Town. Their solely different triumph was an unexpectedly slender one over League Two aspect Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup.
Game after recreation, Pochettino retains speaking about and praising the efficiency of his crew, making an attempt very exhausting to place the outcomes apart. He believes he has the assist of the membership hierarchy in this, however eventually, the tough actuality of what’s occurring in the Premier League desk has to hit residence.
There is a few reality in what the Argentinian tactician is saying. Even in this recreation, Chelsea weren’t that dangerous – they created loads of possibilities, a number of of the kind that basically ought to’ve been objectives, however for one cause or another, they weren’t. It needs to be mentioned that loads of it was all the way down to Villa’s Emiliano Martinez, a top-class goalkeeper, who denied Nicolas Jackson and Raheem Sterling in a number of one-on-one conditions.
It has been mentioned many occasions, however Chelsea clearly lack a correct goalscorer, a participant who won’t let even somebody like Martinez cease him from scoring, at the least not from six yards or much less, with no outfield opponents to intrude. Some huge cash has been spent by the London membership, together with on Jackson with the intention of him being the person to guide their attacking line, however the issue of not taking possibilities stays. The residence aspect did hit the again of the web as soon as in this recreation – it was a high quality header by defender Axel Disasi, however it was rightly dominated out for offside.
There’s clearly no place for Romelu Lukaku on the membership. The Belgian is at the moment on mortgage at AS Roma after spending final season at Inter Milan, and it’s exhausting to think about him enjoying a significant function at Stamford Bridge in the long run. It could also be that the return of Armando Broja from a long-term damage absence adjustments issues, but when that doesn’t occur quickly, there’s just one path Chelsea can flip to – another vital dip into the switch market, as quickly as the January window opens.
In the meantime, their supporters can solely hope the state of affairs received’t change into much more determined.
High-flying Villa
Things can hardly be extra totally different from Aston Villa’s perspective. They shortly bought over the beating suffered in the opening spherical at Newcastle, and the triumphs in opposition to Everton, Burnley, Crystal Palace, and now Chelsea, have them in sixth place with 12 points, two lower than Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in fifth and fourth, respectively. They additionally misplaced away to Liverpool, however at this level, they received’t be dropping an excessive amount of sleep over that.
All in all, Unai Emery has put collectively a high quality crew, able to giving anybody a run for his or her cash, and for anybody who’s been watching their video games frequently, their good outcomes are not any shock. The undeniable fact that they will beat Chelsea in London with out the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Emiliano Buendia and Tyrone Mings speaks volumes.
Interestingly sufficient, Watkins, their high scorer in each season since he joined the membership three years in the past, has simply opened his account this time period, however it solely goes to point out that it is a crew which may damage opponents from any place on the pitch. Nobody has scored greater than two objectives, however they’ve 5 gamers with that tally in their ranks, unfold throughout each part of the squad.
Watkins’s objective at Stamford Bridge was a very very good end, and definitely not a simple one. It was Moussa Diaby who took benefit of a blunder by veteran Thiago Silva to select the ball up in his personal half and cost ahead, earlier than passing on to Watkins. The 27-year-old striker had Levi Colwill making an attempt to cease him and the younger Chelsea defender did properly to direct him extensive, and was maybe unfortunate as the preliminary shot rebounded again to Watkins. It was a really tight angle, however Watkins took another shot, highly effective and correct, sending it between the legs of in any other case glorious Robert Sanchez in the Chelsea objective.
The crimson card
The crimson card acquired by Gusto was clearly a turning level in the sport. Up to that second, Chelsea have been wanting fairly good, attacking greater than their opponents and creating possibilities. However, it was a distinct story as soon as they have been decreased to 10 males, and referee Jarred Gillett was arguably proper in his choice to ship the younger right-back off.
Gusto’s problem on Digne was actually a nasty, reckless second from the 20-year-old Frenchman. His physique fully left the bottom as he flew in studs-first, and although he did get a slight contact on the ball as properly, the sheer disregard for the protection of his opponent was actually worthy of the punishment.
Gillett clearly didn’t see the incident too properly as he blew the whistle and initially produced a yellow card, however after reviewing it on the pitch-side display screen, he actually didn’t have a lot alternative however to improve his choice to a crimson.
Embed from Getty Images
With captain Reece James nonetheless out of motion by way of damage, it is going to be fascinating to see what alternative Pochettino makes concerning the appropriate defensive flank for the subsequent recreation.
Looking forward
There’s no time to moan for Chelsea, or for Villa to have a good time this victory. Both groups are in motion once more on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup, and whereas Villa are deemed favourites to maneuver previous Everton in the competitors, Chelsea journey to face Brighton – a frightening prospect for any crew nowadays.
After that, Chelsea play away to Fulham and Burnley earlier than the subsequent worldwide break kicks in. As for Emery’s aspect, they may also face Brighton, although at Villa Park in the Premier League, after which journey to Wolverhampton. However, in addition they have a Europa League conflict set between these matches, internet hosting Zrinjski Mostar, and so they can’t afford another slip-up after dropping the opening match to Legia in Warsaw.
Discussion about this post