Chelsea made mild work of Aston Villa on Sunday en path to a snug 3-0 victory.
Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer have been all on the right track for the dominant Blues, who proceed to maintain up the tempo on the prime of the Premier League desk, whereas Villa stoop down into the backside half of the standings as their depressing type continues.
How the sport unfolded
Chelsea received off to the right begin with a objective after simply seven minutes. Marc Cucurella recovered possession excessive and mixed with Jadon Sancho to get in behind, and his cut-back was expertly changed into the again of the web by Jackson courtesy of a pleasant flick off the publish.
Some wonderful Villa play resulted in a weak penalty shout from Youri Tielemans which was waved away, earlier than Ollie Watkins ought to have equalised. He shrugged off Wesley Fofana however declined to sq. to Morgan Rogers and as an alternative drove in the direction of Sanchez, who received down very effectively to disclaim the striker from shut vary.
Chelsea have been awarded an oblique free kick on the sting of the six-yard field after Emiliano Martinez picked up a back-pass halfway via the half. Cole Palmer ended up firing goalward however noticed his effort despatched again by the Villa stopper, earlier than Romeo Lavia’s try was additionally knocked away by the wall of defenders charging off the road.
Martinez performed each villain and hero shortly after. The goalkeeper inexplicably handed on to Jackson only a few yards away from him, earlier than flinging himself on the Chelsea ahead’s ft to push the ball away from hazard.
The Chelsea stress stored on coming and Fernandez added a second 36 minutes in. He collected a sensible cross from Palmer and fizzed in a pleasant half-volley with the skin of his boot into the underside of Villa’s internet.
Jackson crashed over within the early phases of the second half as Chelsea appeared to kill the sport off, earlier than a heavy contact when operating via on objective allowed substitute goalkeeper Robin Olsen to neutralise any hazard.
There was a bit extra life about Villa as Jhon Duran despatched a strong header in the direction of objective, with solely a well timed deflection from a assured Levi Colwill stopping the ball from nestling behind the web.
Nonetheless, Palmer ended any slim hopes of a Villa comeback with a sensational effort from the sting of the penalty space, curling the ball past Olsen to wrap up all three factors.
In some way, Chelsea failed so as to add a fourth late on. Joao Felix noticed a sensible shot effectively saved by Olsen, who denied Noni Madueke from the rebound and was grateful to see Felix fail to complete off some penalty-box pinball.
Filip Jorgensen produced maybe the perfect efficiency from any Chelsea goalkeeper up to now few years throughout the midweek win over Heidenheim however, regardless of mounting stress from followers, Enzo Maresca opted to stick with the under-fire Robert Sanchez right here.
As appears to be the same old, we received the nice, the dangerous and the ugly from Sanchez right here. He made a superb save to disclaim Ollie Watkins, earlier than leaving followers pissed off with a cross straight out of play. Nonetheless, earlier than many had completed venting, Sanchez produced an totally spectacular lengthy ball forwards – a powerful reminder of what he can do.
With Reece James again on the sidelines, Maresca opted to drop Moises Caicedo again to right-back right here. It was a noteworthy sight on the staff sheet however not one which actually modified Chelsea’s strategy to issues.
The Ecuador worldwide was nonetheless allowed to invert into midfield, the place his additional physicality helped Enzo Fernandez and Romeo Lavia management proceedings.
Caicedo raised his recreation within the second half as his immense stamina ranges started to shine, hoovering up free balls and serving to Chelsea’s seek for the third and remaining objective.
The primary half was an absolute rollercoaster for Emiliano Martinez, who appeared decided to be the focus of every minute. He unusually picked up a back-pass and inexplicably handed Nicolas Jackson the ball on a silver platter, solely to make up for it with some spectacular saves.
Sadly, Martinez didn’t emerge from the primary half unscathed. He grabbed for his again after falling awkwardly when claiming a cross and, after some on-field therapy, was ultimately withdrawn on the break.
Robin Olsen got here on to exchange Martinez and definitely loved a quieter exhibiting than his teammate. The Swede managed a handful of good saves late on and will have constructed some confidence forward of what might be a run within the staff.
Few Chelsea gamers have confronted stress fairly like Enzo Fernandez up to now two seasons. Even this 12 months, when issues began to development upwards for the Blues, Fernandez appeared to have been left behind and was shortly dropped from the staff.
Challenged to drive his method again into the beginning lineup, Fernandez has exceeded expectations lately with a run of dazzling particular person type. He is now scored in back-to-back Premier League matches and has contributed to at the very least one objective in three on the bounce.
Accidents haven’t been variety to Wesley Fofana, however Blues followers shall be hoping his seen disappointment when he limped off within the second half stemmed extra from frustration than concern.
Fofana appeared to by accident stand on the ball after shedding his footing in a problem and seemed to be holding his hamstring, maybe having tweaked his leg in a determined lunge for the ball.
Given Fofana’s prolonged damage file, there’s an opportunity he’ll be rested even when the harm is not vital.
