22 February 2025
Aston Villa 2 Chelsea 1
Unai Emery’s side welcomed Chelsea to Villa Park on the back of a positive display against league leaders Liverpool in the week. While the game will be remembered for that shocking Nunez miss, The Villains had given Slot’s side a real test and almost won the game themselves late on. Enzo Maresca’s side had seen their form nosedive since Christmas, like their league position.
It is crazy to think that at the end of November we had to listen to so-called pundits talking about how Chelsea were well and truly in a title race this season. Currently, they couldn’t win a raffle even if they were the only ones buying tickets. Both sides are craving a top four spot this season, meaning this was a must-win game given the opposition.
How life can change so easily in football. The Blues won the Champions League not so long ago but while they are now playing yak farmers from Uzbekistan in the Conference League, it was Unai Emery’s side who are holding their own with Europe’s elite. Having already booked their place in the last-16, their focus is now on ensuring they qualify for the competition next season.
It was the visitors who started the brighter and if it had not been for a superb sliding challenge from Mings, Neto would have broken the deadlock early on. Villa were struggling to cope with the pace and trickery of the former Wolves winger. He got to the byline and put it on a plate for Fernandez to score from a yard out, as he deflected it into an empty goal.
This is the main problem for Aston Villa this season. When their best four defenders are fit, they look competent at the back. When they have injuries and have to shuffle the pack, there seems no cohesion to them whatsoever. Something Chelsea can relate to, despite spending more than Elon Musk has on his Space X project, they look about as watertight as a sieve most weeks.
The hosts were constantly trying to play out from the back like a five-a-side match. Finally it paid dividends as their one touch passes got them through the visitors press. Asensio drove forward with the ball before laying it into the path of Watkins. Sadly his shot was straight at the keeper, who blocked it, unfortunately for the striker the only way to get a save out of a Chelsea keeper this campaign.
Nkunku robbed Cash of the ball out on the touchline. He had time and space to run at the Aston Villa goal. He unselfishly passed it to an unmarked Fernandez, who looked to bend a shot into the top corner. His effort had Martinez beaten but he had got his angles all wrong as it landed on the top of the net. Another let off for Emery’s side.
Emery must have been relieved to see his side go in at the interval only a goal down. They had looked so lethargic and static in this game, no doubt he would underpin how tired they are due to their hectic fixture schedule. This irritates anyone with a real job, working a 35 hour week, as opposed to being asked to train for a couple of hours a day and play two games a week.
After the break, Chelsea had a big chance to double their lead. Neto ran towards goal, not looking up at all, with only one thing on his mind. He dragged his shot wide of the target with teammates throwing their arms around that he had not played them in. Another issue for The Blues of late, there is no chemistry whatsoever and they look like eleven players who had met for the first time before the game in the car park.
As the hosts tried to pile the pressure on, Cash swung in a deep cross towards Rashford at the back post. Gusto just managed to get a touch on it to prevent his shot but the loan signing from Man Utd adjusted well to play it across the goal for Asensio to bundle it over the line. Villa Park erupted as they got themselves back on level terms.
It is hard to find an analogy to describe Chelsea’s defending. If you believe all you read in the media, if they were on the front line at Calais to stop people trying to enter the UK illegally, we would see these numbers double or triple overnight. Every week they seem to get opened up easier than Bonnie Blue’s legs, which takes some doing.
As the visitors tried to restore their lead, a defence-splitting pass put Palmer through on goal. As Martinez advanced to close him down, the Chelsea playmaker stumbled but got back to his feet to slot it past the keeper. Fortunately for the hosts, Konsa was covering and managed to clear his goal bound effort away.
Rashford swung a teasing free-kick into the box and neither side could get hold of the loose ball. VAR checked for a potential penalty, as the replay showed, Cucurella was dragging Konsa back to prevent him from being able to shoot. They checked it and cleared the incident immediately, it seems you have to commit ABH to give a penalty away nowadays.
The hosts got their good karma as Rashford clipped a cross into the box. Asensio met it on the volley, seemingly more focussed on just getting it on target than directing it at all. It looked to be a simple gather for Jorgensen but unbelievably it went through his arms and into the back of the net. It was a horrendous error from Chelsea’s current number one clown.
Aston Villa got an important win that put them right on the coat-tails of Man City in fourth place. They would be hoping that Liverpool could do them a favour at The Etihad on Sunday. As for Chelsea, what can you say. Maresca said this side was 5-10 years away from winning major trophies, from what we are seeing at the moment, that seems ambitious.
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