T'was meant to be the season to be jolly :Picture by @YTJourno
T'was meant to be the season to be jolly :Picture by @YTJourno
Premier League
Chelsea (1) 1Joao Pedro 37
Aston Villa (0) 2Watkins 63, 84
Rampant. Dominant. Urgent. Chelsea played Villa off the park for nearly an hour, but ended up empty-handed.
It was impossible to see how such a vibrant, physically imposing first-half display could bring no reward but the visitors somehow found the gears to get back into it and had Ollie Watkins up their sleeve.
The England striker came off the bench to plunder two goals that put the visitors in dreamland. It extended their run of winning games to 11 (eight in the Premier League) equalling a club record. The way they imposed themselves from gtound zero establishes them very firmly as title contenders and their trip to Arsenal on Tuesday takes on monumental significance.
For Chelsea, this was yet another dose of disappointment. They have fallen a bit short at crucial times, just when it looked like they were going to be contenders themselves.
It started so well for the Blues. Cole Palmer - who whipped a shot narrowly wide early on - ran into the heart of the danger zone, played a ball out to Alejandro Garnacho and he pulled the ball back for Enzo Fernandez to curl just wide.
With the Blues racking up more than 70 per cent possession and pressing with the sort of energy we saw against Arsenal, it was surely a matter of time before the breakthrough.
Villa, barely able to get out of their own half for long spells, conceded set pieces and from one of them, Reece James' wicked inswinger found the net via Joao Pedro's back.
After the break, Palmer's low cross after a swift counter-attack looked certain to be put away by Garnacho until John McGinn got back to intervene and put the ball behind. Emi Martinez did well to tip over a cross-shot from Reece James that was creeping under the bar. This was a contest that looked to be going only one way.
But Unai Emery then made changes. Watkins came on, along with Jadon Sancho and Amadou Onana, and within a few minutes there was impact.
Rogers found Watkins inside the area and the England striker had just enough room to burst through the challenge of Benoit Badiashile and find the net with the aid of a lucky bounce off him as Robert Sanchez' attempted clearance cannoned back past him.
Moments later and Rogers was again causing problems. He played in an overlapping Ian Maatsen and Sanchez needed a strong raised arm to keep it out, then hit a long range free-kick onto the roof of the net as a rejuvenated Villa sensed possibilities of extending their great winning run.
Sure enough, Watkins rounded off a superb cameo by heading home a Youri Tielemans corner to crown an astonishing turnaround that left Chelsea stunned.
Blues: (4-2-3-1) Sanchez - James, Badiashile, Chalobah, Cucurella (Gusto 69) - Caicedo, Fernandez - Pedro Neto, Palmer (Estevao 72), Garnacho (Gittens 69) - Joao Pedro (Delap 69)
Villa:(4-4-2) Martinez - Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen (Digne 83) - McGinn (Onana 58), Kamara (Bogarde 83), Tielemans, Buendia (Watkins 58) - Malen (Sancho 58), Rogers