Chelsea 2 Aston Villa 0 – Five Talking Points

A first half Diego Costa strike and a second half Alan Hutton own goal proved enough as Chelsea beat Aston Villa comfortably at Stamford Bridge. Villa, on the other hand, seemed to have not learned their lesson as a couple of terrible mistakes gifted goals to Chelsea and they now languish in the relegation zone. We take a look at the major talking points from the game.

1. A Return to Winning Ways

Incredible as it may seem, Champions Chelsea won only for the third time this season and lifted themselves up 5 places to 11 as they try to resurrect their already floundering season. Prior to the international break, the Blues had been slaughtered by Southampton, and had lost to FC Porto in the Champions League. Their only victories have come against Arsenal and West Brom. With important away games against Dynamo Kiev and high flying West Ham, Chelsea really needed this confidence boosting victory.

Mourinho put up an interesting line up against Villa trying to best tweak his side to inspire better results. Eden Hazard and Nemanja Matic, two regulars indispensable to the title winning side of last season, were dropped for Willian and Ruben Loftus Cheek respectively. Mourinho received a blessing in disguise with Branislav Ivanovic’s injury- Cesar Azpilicueta switched to the right, and summer signing Baba Rahmen started for the first time in the Premier League on the left. It worked, as a tighter Chelsea side created more chances at the other end.

3. Clicking as a Unit

Defensive frailty has been Chelsea’s downfall this season, and Mourinho opted for a Pedro and Willian combination on the wings because he said they worked better defensively than the Belgian. An added bonus of this pair was Willian’s clever running into spaces as the Brazilian time and again broke through Villa’s back four. Cesc Fabregas could focus on the creative aspect of Chelsea’s game, and he too had a brilliant run-in as he set up his teammates on numerous occasions, particularly Diego Costa.

Aston Villa’s errors turned out to be their downfall. First, it was Brad Guzan. The American goalie made a horror pass to Joleon Lescott which the latter was unable to control, and a quick thinking Willian supremely pounced on- he set up Costa and Chelsea had their lead. Next up, we had Alan Hutton. The Scotsman couldn’t do much as Costa was set up by Fabregas in the box, and as the Spaniard tried to pass to his teammates, the ball deflected off the inside of Hutton’s foot into the net. Even besides these, Villa players let Willian and Fabregas slip past them time and again and only Costa’s inefficiency prevented the score being more flattering for the hosts.

An energetic performance by Willian makes him the undisputed Man of the Match for today. The Brazilian made some intelligent runs into the box, pouncing on Villa mistakes. He found space, even created it and set up his teammates- the first goal by Diego Costa being a case in point. Fabregas + Costa was too much to handle for Villa. But Jose Mourinho had started him for his ability to track back, and he didn’t disappoint in that aspect either.