Five Things We Learned From Chelsea’s Draw Against Aston Villa

David Tully

3 years ago

Tags: Aston Villa, Chelsea, Manchester City

Although it was certainly an improvement on the performance Chelsea showed against Arsenal at the weekend, the 1-1 draw versus Aston Villa last night was still a disappointing result.

Manager Frank Lampard made a number of changes to his starting line up, with the Blues boss trying to manage a two-day turnaround between matches, but the rotation in personnel did not produce the desired outcome.

Chelsea looked lively at the end of the first half and could have put the game out of sight of Villa but, after being pegged back by Anwar El Ghazi’s goal, the head’s dropped, leading to two more dropped points.

Press the next page as we go through five things we learned from the Villa game yesterday evening.

Defensive lapses

It appears that the run of clean sheets following Edouard Mendy’s arrival at the club may well be a blip, rather than a sign that Chelsea’s defensive problems have been solved.

The Blues are now letting in more than one goal a game again, with nine goals being conceded in the last seven matches. Lampard’s decision to rotate his centre-backs proved costly with Andreas Christensen deciding to stay down injured rather than get back in position for El Ghazi’s equaliser. Thiago Silva and Kurt Zouma will surely return to the starting eleven for the next game.

Pulisic is getting sharper

Employed on his favoured left flank, with Timo Werner having been dropped to the bench, the American international looked lively and was looking to make things happen on the ball.

Pulisic still needs to show that he can retain his fitness for a longer period, following a series of hamstring problems, but he should be given a good run in the side now.

Ziyech’s absence

After the match, Lampard stated that it isn’t a coincidence that Chelsea’s form has dropped off since the Moroccan international was taken off injured in the 0-0 draw against Tottenham last month.

Chelsea could have done with Ziyech’s creativity last night to break down a stubborn Villa defence but, with the likes of Pulisic, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz all available, the team’s performance really shouldn’t be reliant on one player.

Form trend is worrying

The Villa draw means that the Blues have picked up just four points from a possible 15 since the win over Leeds at the beginning of December.

If the team’s form doesn’t pick up in the second half of the campaign, they could be on course to accrue less than the 66 points they managed in the 2019/20 season.

Chilwell looks like the best summer signing

It may be a bold claim, considering Thiago Silva’s excellent performances following his free transfer move from Paris Saint-Germain, but the signing of Chilwell from Leicester means the Blues could have settled their left-back problems for the best part of the next decade.

The England international wasn’t at his best against Arsenal, but he was excellent versus Villa, providing the assist for Olivier Giroud’s opener, as well as going close to securing the victory late on with a strike that whistled past Emi Martinez’s left-hand post.