Chelsea vs Aston Villa

At this stage of the domestic campaign, Graham Potter's side have little to play for. At Chelsea, all focus is on their Champions League quarter-final against ...

He has so much talent on the bench and his side felt a bit vulnerable defensively The blue shirts that flung themselves in front to try and block the shot did so in vain, and the ball dropped beyond Arrizabalaga’s dive into the bottom corner. Potter’s team were on top but following a familiar pattern, fluid football yielding plenty of chances but nothing besides frustration to show for it at the break. Stamford Bridge sensed a first Chelsea goal for the Ukrainian, but Martinez got the better of his one-on-one duel with the forward to smother the ball to safety. The opening goal was a calamity for Cucurella. From there on, Chelsea kept toiling, applying busy, urgent pressure, but which offered little penetration and never looked like threatening Unai Emery’s side’s lead. Their defence, with Reece James dropped back into a central three in place of the injured Wesley Fofana, parted allowing McGinn to release Watkins running clear. Mudryk’s moment looked finally to have arrived when he found space and broke Villa’s back line, but shot too early, too close to Martinez to bring an equaliser. The Villa captain’s whipped effort from 30 yards was hit crisply as Chelsea failed to clear a corner. McGinn went closer still on 15 minutes when his curling effort smacked the crossbar. Chelsea, suddenly on the back foot, had received two early warnings. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez rolled the ball short to Boubacar Kamara, who dithered in possession and allowed Mykhailo Mudryk to nick it.