Chelsea suffered a sensitive defeat at their own Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The Blues lost 0-2 to the revived Aston Villa, which runs away from the London club in the middle bracket. Accurate Ollie Watkins set a club record for the visitors from Birmingham by scoring for the fifth consecutive time in away league matches. Hakim Ziyech was not included in Chelsea’s match squad for the second time in a row by manager Graham Potter.
Potter opted for a three-man defense at Chelsea: Kalidou Koulibaly was assisted in the back by Marc Cucurella and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, originally a midfielder. Mykhailo Mudryk and Kai Havertz had to provide the supply from the flanks towards attack leader João Félix. Noni Madueke had to make do with a place on the reserve bench and Ziyech was once again a grandstand customer in West London. At Villa, longtime veteran Ashley Young replaced the injured Matty Cash. while Boubacar Kamara took over from Leon Bailey in midfield.
?? ????????????????????????????????! ? Ollie Watkins scores for the fifth game in a row and that has never happened at Aston Villa! Chelsea must be in hot pursuit! ?? https://t.co/Qz07v0rjG4#ViaplaySportNL #ViaplayFootball #CHEAVL pic.twitter.com/ITje4kIn6u
— Viaplay Sport Netherlands (@viaplaysportnl) April 1, 2023
Emiliano Martínez appeared to be doing Chelsea a favor early on with a dramatic pass to Kamara, who lost the ball to Mudryk. However, the Argentinian goalkeeper showed improvement by tapping the left attacker’s bang over. Ezri Konsa was next important with a great tackle as Havertz looked almost certain to score. Villa woke up and issued a warning with a blast from John McGinn on the crossbar. A short time later it was a hit: Cucurella misjudged a header, so that Watkins could only approach Kepa and scored with a beautiful lob: 0-1. It was the fifth time in a row for the attacker that he managed to score in away games in the Premier League, a club record. Watkins, along with Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah, is the only player to score at least 10 times in the Premier League in the past three seasons.
Chelsea also showed the necessary offensive intentions after the break, but it was precisely Villa that scored after ten minutes. A deflected corner kick from the left eventually ended up with McGinn, who skillfully put the ball in the left corner through a tangle of players: 0-2. Potter intervened immediately and took Mudryk and Loftus-Cheek to the side, with Madueke and N’Golo Kante as replacements. Madueke was active during his substitution and was involved in several of Chelsea’s attacks. However, the hosts lacked the punch and the eleventh defeat of the season in the Premier League could not be avoided.
??Chelsea in trouble: 0-2! ? After the first corner for Aston Villa, John McGinn doubles the score! ?? https://t.co/Qz07v0rjG4#ViaplaySportNL #ViaplayFootball #CHEAVL pic.twitter.com/rjjuMijjzv
— Viaplay Sport Netherlands (@viaplaysportnl) April 1, 2023
3 – Ollie Watkins is one of only three players to have hit double figures for goals in each of the last three Premier League seasons (10 in 2022-23), along with Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah. Repeat. pic.twitter.com/dXTMYNAx0f
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 1, 2023
| No. | Team | m | W | G | v | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 29 | 23 | 3 | 3 | 43 | 72 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 28 | 20 | 4 | 4 | 45 | 64 |
| 3 | Manchester United | 26 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 50 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 28 | 15 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 49 |
| 5 | Newcastle United | 26 | 12 | 11 | 3 | 20 | 47 |
| 6 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 15 | 43 |
| 7 | Brentford | 28 | 10 | 13 | 5 | 9 | 43 |
| 8 | Liverpool | 27 | 12 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 42 |
| 9 | Fulham | 28 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 39 |
| 10 | Chelsea | 27 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 38 |
| 11 | Aston Villa | 27 | 11 | 5 | 11 | -4 | 38 |
| 12 | Crystal Palace | 29 | 7 | 9 | 13 | -15 | 30 |
| 13 | Wolverhampton W. | 29 | 7 | 7 | 15 | -19 | 28 |
| 14 | Nottingham Forest | 28 | 6 | 9 | 13 | -27 | 27 |
| 15 | AFC Bournemouth | 28 | 7 | 6 | 15 | -28 | 27 |
| 16 | Leeds United | 28 | 6 | 8 | 14 | -12 | 26 |
| 17 | Everton | 28 | 6 | 8 | 14 | -18 | 26 |
| 18 | Leicester City | 28 | 7 | 4 | 17 | -10 | 25 |
| 19 | West Ham United | 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 | -10 | 24 |
| 20 | Southampton | 28 | 6 | 5 | 17 | -23 | 23 |