Chelsea took advantage of their rivals dropping points by scoring two goals in as many minutes to claim all three points against relegation-threatened Aston Villa.
As has been the case in many games since the Premier League’s resumption, there was little in the way of intensity as both teams tried to find their feet after nearly three months without competitive action.
Chelsea did, however, enjoy large swathes of possession, and looked the most likely to score with Mason Mount drawing a superb save from Ørjan Nyland. But despite this, it would be Villa who’d go into half-time with the lead with defender Kortney Hause bundling home after Kepa Arrizabalaga had got down well to save Anwar El Ghazi’s close-range effort.
The second-half started in much the same fashion as the first, with Chelsea camping themselves deep inside Villa’s half and after the introductions of Christian Pulisic and Ross Barkley, the pressure soon told. Cesar Azpilicueta picked the ball up before whipping a delivery into the path of the onrushing Pulisic, who hammered home the ball to bring Chelsea level.
Within just a minute of equalising, Frank Lampard’s men took the lead when Azpilicueta once again picked up the ball, this time on the left-hand side, before picking out Olivier Giroud who turned and finished albeit via a deflection.
The result gives Chelsea breathing room in the race for a top-four finish, whilst Villa continue to struggle for form as they look to ensure survival this season.
Here’s how we rated the Chelsea players.
