Chelsea fights back well against Villa, but forgets to reward themselves

Aston Villa and Chelsea shared the points in an exciting match in the Premier League on Saturday evening. The home team had a 2-0 lead halfway through, but gave it up after halftime: 2-2. Noni Madueke was important with the tying goal after an hour of play. Villa remains fourth, Chelsea occupies ninth place.

Villa knew in advance that a win would do very well with a view to the Champions League tickets. Unai Emery's team is firmly in fourth place, but pursuer Tottenham Hotspur played three games less.

For Chelsea, the season is in danger of fizzle out. The Londoners still have a theoretical chance of European football, but this depends on the competition. Moreover, a victory over Villa would have been desirable.

Chelsea was eliminated from the FA Cup last week by Manchester City (1-0) and three days later suffered a brutal defeat at Arsenal, who were too strong 5-0 in their own Emirates Stadium. Truly a horror week for manager Mauricio Pochettino's team.

But it was Villa that started a lot brighter. After an attack from the left, John McGinn pushed the ball over Chelsea's goal line via Marc Cucurella: 1-0. The home team pressed and quickly had the opportunity to double the score through Lucas Digne, but failed to do so.

On the other hand, Nicolas Jackson was accurate. The striker scored after a pass in the depth, but did so in an offside position. The visitors were the better for large parts of the match and also created the best chances, but Villa proved to be much more effective.

On the stroke of half-time it was out of nowhere that Villa doubled the score. Morgan Rogers surprisingly decided to take a swing in the short corner and outscored Djordje Petrovic: 2-0. It happened at the moment when Villa Park came to a standstill and Chelsea thought they were on level terms.

At the start of the second half, Villa had to move on to another goalkeeper, as Emiliano Martínez could not continue the game. Robin Olsen replaced him. Little changed in the game image. After an hour of play there was the deserved tying goal.

Douglas Luiz made a mistake during the build-up, after which Chelsea took over and Noni Madueke scored calmly into the left corner: 2-1. Moments earlier, the former PSV player had already threatened with a shot that narrowly missed the goal.

Villa limited themselves to defending and only scored the first chance of the second half in minute 73 (!). Leon Bailey's effort was stopped with his feet by Petrovic. Ten minutes before the end, the deserved equalizer was scored. Conor Gallagher came in from the right and shot into the far corner: 2-2.

Both teams went in search of the winning goal in the final phase, but were unable to do so. Cole Palmer bumped into Olsen and a goal by substitute Axel Disasi was disallowed after VAR intervention due to a pushing error. There is little time to mourn for Villa as they play the Conference League semi-final against Olympiacos on Thursday.

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