Two games both featuring one side desperate to win in order to qualify for the Champions League and another that couldn’t give a damn in a bid to achieve the very same feat is an historically bizarre state of affairs. The 7.30 and 8.15 kick-offs on a Friday night only added to the unsettling feeling.
Ruben Amorim and Ange Postecoglou took very different approaches with their starting lineups in preparation for the Europa League final next week. Amorim came good on his promise of picking a strong Manchester United XI against Chelsea in a bid to avoid them being caught cold in Bilbao, while injury fears prompted Postecoglou to play the Tottenham backups vs Aston Villa.
This perceived injustice led to great gnashing of teeth from Blues fans, who had seen their side romp to a 3-1 win over a hungover Liverpool less than two weeks ago, up against a midfield trio of Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott. Swings and roundabouts.
It wasn’t a walk at Villa Park anyway. Son Heung-min looked like something closer to his old self on a happy hunting ground that’s seen him score more Premier League goals as a visitor than any other player (6), swinging a curled effort just over the bar, while Wilson Odobert’s flick after an excellent counter-attacking move was well saved by Emiliano Martinez in a first half which saw the home fans grow increasingly nervy and quiet.
Villa were the dominant team. Antonin Kinsky was forced into a wonderful save to deny Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins was found in excellent positions on two or three occasions, while the outstanding Marco Asensio was frequently seen drifting past challenges in the No.10 position and saw one whipped effort drift agonisingly wide of the post.
It was pretty clear after 13 minutes at Stamford Bridge that things weren’t going to plan. This Manchester United team had been in the ascendency to such a degree that Chelsea had lost all sense of themselves, leading Robert Sanchez to wave the players forward from a free-kick deep in the Blues half before booting it in the general direction of the helpless Tyrique George. There’s nothing Enzo Maresca hates more.
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When Harry Maguire volleyed in Bruno Fernandes’ cross, before they were handed a VAR reprieve for the most marginal of offsides, the Chelsea players resembled England vs Iceland at Euro 2016: anxious; confused; shellshocked. And they were playing the football to match.
We lost count of the number of missed passes, while simply controlling the ball appeared to require extraordinary levels of concentration. Aside from an early fluff from Noni Madueke, which would probably have been ruled out for offside had he scored in any case, and a stunning effort from Reece James from outside the box which clipped the post, Chelsea offered very little against a side proven to wilt under the slightest pressure.
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A bit like Spurs, who were relatively solid at Villa Park until they weren’t.
An unchallenged Watkins headed John McGinn’s deep corner towards goal for the unchallenged Ezri Konsa to sweep the ball home, and there was no hope (not that they cared) from that point on for Spurs, who were fortunate to concede just once more, with Boubacar Kamara cutting inside to fire into the bottom corner and ramp the pressure up on Chelsea, where the unease swept from the silent stands onto the pitch.
They were again fortunate not to go behind at the start of the second half, as turncoat Mason Mount and Bruno Fernandes both missed decent chances after linking up with Amad Diallo.
There was no urgency from Chelsea and, Moises Caicedo aside, a stunning lack of forward thrust from a side in desperate need of a goal but with no apparent method of scoring one. The impact of George playing out of position as the No.9 paled in comparison to the suspended Nicolas Jackson, who’s a long way from perfect and an absolute fool for getting sent off against Newcastle, but is a handful for defenders even at his worst.
Chelsea relied upon the only player to provide a moment of quality in the first half to come up trumps in the second. It was brilliant from James, who unsurprisingly impressed throughout at right-back because he’s a brilliant right-back and not a central midfielder, no matter how much Enzo Maresca tries to convince us he is.
Space opened up for the captain on the edge of the box for a shot, but instead of taking it on with his left, he pirouetted onto his right and as everyone expected him to let fly he clipped the ball delightfully to the back post for Marc Cucurella, who extended his lead as Chelsea’s top scorer in 2025 with his fifth goal this year.
Helped by an understandably meek Manchester United, whose focus had well and truly turned to Wednesday as Amorim rang the changes after going behind, Chelsea saw the game out comfortably, with some very welcome passion displayed by the players, manager and fans that was absent for 70 minutes here and all too often in a run that had seen them slip from the Champions League places.
Only briefly though. James’ goal means Chelsea are fourth, level on points with Newcastle in third and Aston Villa in fifth, as Manchester City slip intriguingly out of the qualification spots ahead of the FA Cup final and their Premier League game in hand on Tuesday against Bournemouth.
It’s set up beautifully, with this race for Champions League football – and solvency in the case of most of those involved – proving to be a serviceable tonic for the lack of jeopardy elsewhere in the Premier League.