Chelsea 1 Aston Villa 2: How did Emery's subs change the game? Does Garnacho deserve Maresca's faith?
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Cerys Jones, Jacob Tanswell and more
We analyse the talking points from Stamford Bridge as Aston Villa came from behind to extend their winning run to eight matches
There is just no stopping Aston Villa right now. For an hour against Chelsea, they were second best and trailed to Joao Pedro’s first-half goal from close range.
But an inspired triple change by Unai Emery turned this game on its head, with Ollie Watkins coming on to score twice and extend their winning run to eight Premier League matches. Regardless of how many observers back their title-race credentials, Villa are not slowing down yet.
With Enzo Maresca serving a one-match touchline ban, Chelsea were quickly on top. Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandez failed to take decent chances inside 20 minutes before Emiliano Martinez’s face kept out Joao Pedro’s close-range flick.
The opening finally came eight minutes before the break. Reece James’ corner had appeared to go straight in on first glance but replays showed it flicked Joao Pedro half a yard from goal.
Considering Villa had won seven straight league games, they were strangely lacklustre until Emery’s triple change in the 59th minute, when he introduced Watkins, Jadon Sancho and Amadou Onana. They had an impact within five minutes.
Watkins was denied by a smart Robert Sanchez save but the rebound went in off the striker to restore parity. Sanchez had to be at his best to then deny Ian Maatsen from close range and Watkins again.
And the comeback was complete in the 84th minute when Watkins rose highest to head a corner beyond Sanchez for what proved to be the winner. They have now won 11 straight matches in all competitions.
The Athletic’s Cerys Jones, Jacob Tanswell and Liam Tharme analyse the action.
How did Emery change the momentum?
Villa showed gradual signs of improvement after a laboured first half, but just before the hour mark, they truly managed to start throwing some punches back at Chelsea.
This was engineered by Emery, who made a triple change before the hour mark. Watkins replaced Donyell Malen up front, with Sancho coming on for John McGinn off the right, playing down that side for the first time since his arrival at Villa.
Most crucially, Onana’s introduction for Emiliano Buendia pushed Youri Tielemans further forward, with Rogers, who had been stifled before then, becoming the second No 10.
Unai Emery got his changes spot on (Marc Atkins – AVFC via Getty Images)
This enabled Rogers to enjoy a competitive battle with James but, from a tactical perspective, also begin to receive the ball coming from a wide starting position.
Rogers could then drift inside either to dribble or pick up the ball, in turn being harder to mark and having play in front of him, as opposed to Chelsea’s defender wrestling him from behind. This ultimately was integral to Watkins’ equaliser not long after, with Rogers slipping in a neat through pass for the forward to finish past Sanchez.
He then topped it off by losing Malo Gusto and heading home from eight yards in the 85th minute. Villa’s comeback means they have won 18 points from losing positions.
Jacob Tanswell
How dangerous are Chelsea from corners?
Considering Villa had defended rather diligently for 36 minutes — sliding across the pitch as Chelsea tried to work and rework openings, and impressively smothering shooting opportunities by getting bodies in the way — the opening goal looked incredibly simplistic: a corner from James that, at first glance, seemed to go all the way in.
Video replays corrected that to Joao Pedro, who, in his blocking role on Martinez, provided a glancing finish to help on James’ inswinger.
That makes for goals in consecutive games for the striker after netting away to Newcastle United, his first time scoring in back-to-back league matches since August.
Joao Pedro gets a slight touch on Reece James’ cross to give Chelsea the lead! 🔵 pic.twitter.com/1oNWaMLRC2
More importantly, it takes Chelsea’s goal tally to eight from corners this season. Only Arsenal (10) have more, with Tottenham Hotspur matching Marseca’s side.
The inswinger from James was a tantalising near-post delivery, one that has become a trademark for Chelsea this season — coming into this gameweek, Chelsea had delivered inswingers for 64 of their 93 Premier League corners, plus 26 short ones and three outswingers.
It means that they have bettered their number of goals scored from corners last season (seven, from 234 deliveries).
Liam Tharme
How costly will Cash and Kamara’s yellow cards be?
Matty Cash received his fifth yellow card of the season in the first half, leaving Emery with a headache before Villa’s next match against Arsenal in three days.
Villa will again travel to London but without their right-back, who will serve a one-match suspension having reached the threshold before the midway point of the campaign after a foul on Alejandro Garnacho on the half-hour mark.
In a tough first half for Cash and Villa, with Chelsea dominating possession and creating two-v-ones down the flanks, the Poland international made key defensive headers and blocks. In truth, Villa were fortunate they were only trailing by a goal at the break.
Matty Cash received his fifth booking of the season after fouling Alejandro Garnacho (Chris Lee – Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
However, Cash’s absence at the Emirates will mean Emery will likely turn to his deputy in Andres Garcia, who is yet to play a minute in any match this season after recovering from a long injury, or Lamare Bogarde, who is a midfielder by trade but is capable of playing at right-back.
Neither is ideal for Emery, with Cash among the Premier League’s most consistent full-backs this season. Bogarde is more defensively minded and can struggle against wingers in wide areas, but is viewed as more secure than Garcia, who, at 22, is still relatively inexperienced.
Worse was to come in the second period when Boubacar Kamara also picked up his fifth booking for what the referee Stuart Attwell deemed as a late tackle in the final 10 minutes. At least Emery is blessed with more midfield options than he is at right-back. Onana is likely to replace Kamara at the Emirates.
Jacob Tanswell
Does Garnacho need to offer more?
The first half was as dominant as Chelsea have been in the Premier League all season, made all the more impressive by the form of their opponents. Joao Pedro’s goal was a just reward for their control — but they failed to produce the end product their play deserved.
Garnacho was a major culprit. The left-winger has frustrated Chelsea fans with his decision-making in the final third and this was no different: he frequently pondered on the ball as he tried to work out a way past Cash, allowing Villa’s defence to organise themselves and ultimately making his own job harder.
Though there were a handful of excellent crosses that should have been turned home by team-mates, there were also some wasteful floated cross/shots that killed promising Chelsea attacks.
Alejandro Garnacho showed flashes of his talent (Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Garnacho is Maresca’s first choice ahead of Jamie Gittens at the moment — but needs to start adding end product to match his pace and trickery if he is to pull his weight in Chelsea’s attack.
Cerys Jones
Was Sanchez lucky?
In the 89th minute, Sanchez — who had an otherwise strong game, making several crucial saves that kept Chelsea ahead for much of the second half — gave away an opportunity in bizarre circumstances.
Sanchez often likes to carry a ball he has claimed in the air out to the very edge of the box before releasing it and earlier in the second half, Villa’s fans behind his goal believed he had carried it out of his area.
The officials did not agree on that occasion — but with one minute left, Sanchez, in his haste to get Chelsea forward in search of an equaliser, slipped as he carried the ball forward and his momentum carried the ball out of the box.
A red card, considering Sanchez clearly fell rather than deliberately handling the ball outside the area, would have felt harsh. That is presumably what Chelsea’s players were pointing out to Attwell as they gathered around him, and Sanchez escaped. He redeemed his error by saving Lucas Digne’s effort.
Cerys Jones
What did Maresca say?
At the post-match press conference, the Chelsea boss said: “I think by the time we conceded the first goal we should have scored two, three goals, and then after the goal we conceded the game completely changed.
“I think the goal we conceded was the turning point. Until the goal we conceded, it’s around one hour, we were completely in control of the game. Again it’s something that is not the first time that happened and when we concede a goal, even if we are winning and we concede a goal, we struggle a little bit with the management of the game and it’s something that for sure we need to improve.”
When asked about Palmer’s reaction to being subbed, Maresca said he had no problem with it: “No, no, no, no. He was working very good, he was on the ball and off the ball, pressing, he was very good. We have another game now in 48 hours so he was good and we are happy that he is back.”
What did Emery say?
After the match, Villa manager Unai Emery told Sky Sports: “We spoke before the match about how we could keep our mentality and our consistency whilst defending. Our plan was to try to dominate and create momentum better than we did but they were pressing and dominating the ball more than us.
“We were feeling comfortable defending and this is one thing that we must feel, and we did. We were a bit upset with our performance in the first half but it is something normal playing against Chelsea here.
“But 90 minutes is 90 minutes and in all the matches we have been getting momentum and showing our capacity to play well. We came back because the players showed their resilience and mentality to follow the gameplan strongly.”
On his match-changing triple substitution, he said: “We’re playing a lot of matches so we needed fresh legs and to try and rotate. We wanted to get good impact as we have in recent matches — and Ollie Watkins mentality and commitment was amazing. Sometimes playing 35 minutes can get the numbers he got today. The players must be mature to follow the choices I am making and they are.”
On Villa’s title chances, he said: “We are at day 18. I will only speak about the title race after day 34.”
What next for Chelsea?
Tuesday, December 30: Bournemouth (Home), Premier League, 7.30pm UK, 2.30pm ET
What next for Villa?
Tuesday, December 30: Arsenal (Away), Premier League, 8.15pm UK, 3.15pm ET
