It was another poor performance by Chelsea and a Christmas week to forget for the Blues. Aston Villa got a hard-earned point on the road to the frustration of Chelsea.
Olivier Giroud opened the scoring from a Ben Chilwell cross in the first half, but Aston Villa managed to find an equaliser and neither team really showed the urgency or the initiative needed to win the game.
Christian Pulisic missed a couple of good opportunities when the game was still scoreless, but the Blues were not made to regret with the ever present Giroud scoring another header to give Chelsea the lead.
Since his Premier League debut in August 2012, no player has scored more headers in the competition than Olivier Giroud (32) 👏 pic.twitter.com/1iZp0bj7k8
— Goal (@goal) December 28, 2020
Chelsea failed to extend their lead and were made to pay by Aston Villa. Andreas Christensen was left injured on the pitch, but Villa played on for Anwar El Ghazi to score.
This result now means that Chelsea have just four points from their last five games, and are now at serious risk of falling too far behind in the title race.
The Teams
Chelsea (4-3-3): Mendy; Azpilicueta (c), Christensen, Rudiger, Chilwell; Kante, Jorginho (Havertz 72′), Mount; Hudson- Odoi, Giroud (Werner 72′), Pulisic
Scorer: Giroud 34′
Booked: Azpilicueta 45+1′, Giroud 71′, Kante 74′
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Cash, Hause, Konsa, Targett; McGinn, Douglas Luiz; Traore (Davis 87′), Grealish (c), El Ghazi (Ramsey 82′); Watkins
Scorer: El Ghazi 50′
Booked: El Ghazi 71′
The Game
Chelsea had a couple of early corners, but it was Villa that looked the sharper team in the opening minutes.
Villa talisman Jack Grealish produced a good shot cutting in from the left-wing forcing a save from Edouard Mendy who conceded a corner in the process. He then played a corner routine from the training ground that almost caught Chelsea out.
Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic then got a great chance to open the scoring thanks to a sloppy pass from Jack Grealish, and he really should have done better and at least hit the target. Minutes later, Pulisic got another good opportunity to score from a Mason Mount cutback after Mount was found with a good ball from Ben Chilwell, but John McGinn got the block in to save Villa.
A foul by N’Golo Kante on John McGinn gave Jack Grealish a chance to deliver, and worryingly for Chelsea, Hause got a free header that he put wide.
Edouard Mendy then couldn’t hold on to an Anwar El Ghazi cross and Matty Cash wasted a big chance to put the visitors ahead, with Mendy out of position, blasting it high.
Chelsea then slowly began to dominate the proceedings. Cesar Azpilicueta crossed for Olivier Giroud, and the ball fell for Christian Pulisic who was in the 6-yard box, but with his back to goal, his shot went over the crossbar seemingly from right below it!
So far, Chelsea were not playing too many risky passes and lacked creativity and intent with too much of sideways passing. Mason Mount changed that by playing a risky pass through the centre to Olivier Giroud who laid it off for Christian Pulisic to find the overlapping Mount whose cross was turned in with a punching header from Giroud who finished a beautifully constructed goal for the Blues.
Soon after, Mount scrambled past a couple of Villa defenders with good skill. He had the chance to go down in the box from a Grealish challenge, but admirably, chose to stay on his feet only to blast high.
Mount then played in Pulisic after winning the ball with some excellent pressing, only for Cash to put in a last-ditch tackle when Pulisic looked like he was about to pull the trigger.
After a collision between Grealish and Christensen that left Christensen injured on the pitch, Villa played on and equalised early into the second half from a cross by Cash that was turned in by El Ghazi who had lost his marker, Kante.
After the equaliser, Villa chose to sit deeper and take their chances on the counter so the impetus was on Chelsea to provide the attacking thrust needed to win the game.
N’Golo Kante, playing as a right central midfielder got two good opportunities to shoot from just outside the box. He couldn’t capitalise on them and one can ask if Chelsea might have made better use of those chances if a more offensive midfielder like Havertz was on the pitch.
Lampard too thought that as the two Germans, Werner and Havertz then came on for Jorginho and the goalscorer, Giroud as Kante was moved central.
Azpilicueta had a goal disallowed as Pulisic was offside from a corner routine.
Timo Werner shot high from a good chance in the box and Chilwell volleyed wide from a tight angle.
What a winner that would’ve been!
Ben Chilwell goes close for @ChelseaFC with a stunning volley 😲#PLonPrime #CHEAVL pic.twitter.com/StJWPGk4Wj
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) December 28, 2020
Chelsea’s game can perhaps best be summed up by Christensen and Rudiger playing a series of passes between each other in the final minutes of the match when Chelsea were looking for a winner.
Aston Villa won a couple of set pieces during added time to put to bed any hopes Chelsea had of winning the game.
