After Chelsea lost 2-1 to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, manager Liam Rosenior said that his team need to get a lot better. This was the third time the Gunners have beaten the Blues since the start of the year.
William Saliba and Jurrien Timber both scored from corners, giving Arsenal their 15th and 16th set-piece goals of the season. Chelsea had tied the game just before the break when Piero Hincapie deflected a wicked cross from Reece James into his own net in the first-half stoppage time. But their hopes for a second comeback were dashed when Pedro Neto was sent off.
Minutes after being booked for arguing, the Chelsea winger got a second yellow card for a cynical foul on Gabriel Martinelli. This made him the seventh Chelsea player to get a red card in the Premier League this season. Afterwards, Rosenior was very honest about what needs to change:
“I’ll be very honest, we spoke [on Monday] as a group about how we can improve and what needs to happen. It needs to happen for us to be successful for the rest of the season.”
Chelsea lost for the third game in a row, dropping them to sixth place in the Premier League table. The Blues are now three points behind Liverpool, who are in fifth place and are trying to get into the Champions League. In Rosenior’s first 13 games, Chelsea gave up eight goals from set pieces, four of which came against Arsenal.
Chelsea Get Ready To Play Aston Villa
The Blues don’t have much time to think about their loss because they have to play Aston Villa at Villa Park on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. Aston Villa are in fourth place, six points ahead of Chelsea, who are in sixth. This is a very important game in the race for European qualification.
Pedro Neto will have to sit out because he was sent off, but Wesley Fofana will be back from his own suspension. Marc Cucurella remains a question mark due to a hamstring injury. John McGinn, Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans, and Andres Garcia are all unfit or injured and can’t play for Villa.
Villa have only won one of their last six home games, which included a shocking 2-0 loss to Wolves, who are at the bottom of the table. In the reverse match in December, Ollie Watkins came off the bench and scored two quick goals for Villa, giving them a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge. Rosenior will do everything he can to avoid a repeat, knowing that another loss here could be very bad for Chelsea’s chances of reaching the Champions League.