Chelsea strengthened their hopes of a top-four finish in the Premier League with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Aston Villa, who are now without a win in eight matches.
The game started at a ferocious pace and it was Chelsea who went ahead early with the first shot of the game. The goal was all about Marc Cucurella, who won the ball ahead of Jaden Philogene with a strong challenge. The Aston Villa players wanted a free-kick but nothing was forthcoming as Cucurella went on to pick out Nicolas Jackson and the striker swept home from close range for his eighth Premier League goal of the season.
Aston Villa’s first chance fell to Ollie Watkins, who did brilliantly to beat Wesley Fofana to the ball. The England striker was bearing down on goal but goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was quickly off his line to make a smart block.
Chelsea had the chance to extend their advantage after Emiliano Martinez picked the ball up after a touch from Pau Torres. Referee Stuart Attwell whistled for a pass back to hand Chelsea an indirect free-kick from around eight yards out. With all the Villa players back on the goal line, the ball was touched to Cole Palmer and his powerful shot was brilliantly kept out by Martinez.
In a mad few moments from the Villa goalkeeper, he then almost gifted Chelsea a second as he inexplicably passed the ball straight to Jackson, but the Chelsea striker’s heavy touch allowed the Argentina international to recover.
Chelsea’s dominance continued and they finally extended their advantage just before the break. Enzo Maresca’s side won the ball high up before Palmer’s slick pass found Enzo Fernandez, who finished emphatically from the edge of the penalty area.
Villa created another opening for Watkins in stoppage time at the end of the first half with Philogene playing the striker in on goal, but he was again denied by Sanchez to send Chelsea in at the break with a deserved two-goal advantage.
Sanchez was in action early in the second half as Villa, who were forced into a change at the break with goalkeeper Martinez replaced by Robin Olsen, worked the ball to John McGinn. The Villa captain bent a shot towards the far corner but the Chelsea goalkeeper pushed the ball to safety with the offside flag eventually going up against McGinn.
The second half lacked the tempo of the first and the game started to fizzle out as a Villa revival never materialised.
That was until Palmer’s special strike into the top corner sealed a big win that sees Chelsea, who move up to third and level on points and goal difference with Arsenal, open up a six-point gap to Villa as Emery’s side drop into the bottom half of the table in 12th.
Are Chelsea title contenders?
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca on whether his side are in a fight for the Premier League title:
“I said many times I don’t agree with that. I think we are not ready to compete with Liverpool, Arsenal and City for many reasons and because we win today I’m not going to change my idea. We are not ready for that. But the good thing is that we are improving and hopefully very soon we can be there.”
What are the reasons why Chelsea cannot compete for the title? Maresca replied: “We need to improve many things. We can attack better, we can defend better. But what we need is you have to live moments to get better.
“These kind of players, some of them in their life, in their experience, they’ve played probably one final for any title. Probably last year, Carabao Cup, has been the most important game they’ve played. So you need to live moments to get better, and when we start to get these moments, probably we get better and we can compete.
“Arsenal players, Liverpool players, City players, they all live finals, compete for titles, so we’re going to be there soon. But this is one of the reasons why we are still far and not ready to compete with those clubs.”
The Chelsea goals…
‘Chelsea impress again’
Sky Sports’ Oliver Yew at Stamford Bridge:
Chelsea continue to impress under head coach Maresca.
Aston Villa were beaten comprehensively as the positive vibes continue to build at Chelsea, who are very quietly going about their business.
The Blues are now unbeaten in five games in all competitions and unbeaten in five games in the Premier League. They are up to third in the league, level on points and goal difference with Arsenal, who many are tipping for the Premier League title.
There will be no talk of a title challenge from Maresca, who has constantly played down his side’s chances, but there is no getting away from the facts. The Blues are one of the form teams in the division and are firmly in the mix with Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City.
This Chelsea team, who kept a first clean sheet of the season at Stamford Bridge, has momentum. They are a side firmly on the up and have strengthened their top-four ambitions with victory over Villa. That is what Chelsea fans, who are starting to connect with their team again, would have asked for at the start of the season and the manager and the players are delivering.
Emery: We need to recover our confidence
Aston Villa looked deflated at Stamford Bridge and boss Emery admitted to Sky Sports that his side need to rediscover their confidence.
“The analysis is not only for this match. We arrived here two years ago and progressively we were always getting better. This match is a good test for us to see where we are with teams like Chelsea, Liverpool a few weeks ago. At the beginning of the season we can sense some teams were better than us and one of them is Chelsea. Try to keep balance, not be frustrated. We are going to try again to recover our confidence on Wednesday against Brentford.”
On the winless run, Emery added: “We believe completely in our work. We are enjoying the Champions League and in the league we are more or less under where we were. Our challenge is to fight on Wednesday with Brentford and see how our level is with Brentford. There are still matches to play and we are going to recover our confidence, trying to build the team. We have to try to be better than we are being now. We can individually do better.”
Martinez’s injury adds to Villa’s problems
Sky Sports’ Declan Olley at Stamford Bridge:
Aston Villa’s problems have only deepened following the defeat to Chelsea.
Not only are they eight games without a win in all competitions, which has seen them slip into the bottom half of the Premier League, but they could have a major injury issue to deal with after goalkeeper Martinez went off at half-time.
It is just another headache for Villa boss Emery to deal with.
In his post-match press conference the Spaniard said he believes his side “are not a surprise like last year” and their top-six rivals Chelsea and Tottenham, whom they beat away last season, “don’t have doubts like last year”.
Aston Villa are on the joint-longest streak without a victory in the top flight – five games, which is level with Everton and Leicester. But Emery is “keeping calm” that he can turn things around quickly and will be eyeing their next two games, which are both at home, to end their torrid form.
The 53-year-old said: “Now the opportunity is Brentford at home on Wednesday and I am confident we can recover again our good form.”
After that, it is relegation-threatened Southampton at Villa Park. If the winless run continues by that point, then Emery will no longer be calm.
