Romelu Lukaku and Mateo Kovacic scored their first Stamford Bridge goals for Chelsea as the Blues beat Aston Villa 3-0 to level on points with Manchester United at the top of the Premier League standings.
In his second home debut for the club, Lukaku was brilliantly clinical in finishing after Kovacic’s through ball at 15 minutes and, after the interval, the Croatian pounced on a poor back pass from Tyrone Mings (49 ) to score his first home goal for the club.
Villa had dominated between those two goals, forcing Edouard Mendy to a string of good saves in the first half, while Ollie Watkins was denied by a crucial block from Thiago Silva when he bypassed the keeper. However, after Mings’ gift, the hosts, while still not at their best, found a measure of control and Lukaku extended his lead with a brilliant left-footed shot at the corner in injury time ( 90 + 4) to double his loot.
Chelsea’s unpredictable performance in the first half resulted in rookie Saul Niguez being hooked at half-time, but the Blues kept their start to the season undefeated. Villa – which lacked key men Emi Martinez and Emi Buendia due to the trip to Argentina – have four points in their first four games.
How Chelsea kept Villa at bay and then won by three …
It was a hectic start to the West London match, with Antonio Rudiger and Marcos Alonso seeing shots blocked behind for corners within a minute before Konsa headed a free-kick from the other side before deflecting. a Chelsea corner on their own crossbar. nach.
A moment of quality broke the deadlock in the quarter of an hour, however, when Kovacic used the space in midfield to play with Lukaku who cleverly cut in Axel Tuanzebe before finishing clinically behind Villa defender Jed Steer, finding the net to his ninth goal. appearance in this field with the Chelsea shirt.
Despite the setback, Villa responded impressively. When Saul gifted the ball to the edge of his own area, Watkins forced Thiago Silva to a crucial block after beating Mendy, before the Chelsea goalkeeper blocked another attempt from the villa striker and made a fantastic double stop to keep out. Tyrone Mings and Konsa.
Saul’s mistake aggravated a poor first-half performance by loaner Atletico Madrid who, having won one of their nine duels and lost possession nine times, were replaced by Jorginho at half-time.
And Chelsea were celebrating right after the restart when Kovacic launched on Mings’ sloppy pass over Steer to score and assist in a game for the first time since January 2017, when he was at Real Madrid, and broke his Stamford Bridge duck. at 73rd. attempt.
Mateo Kovacic pounced on Tyrone Mings’ mistake by scoring Chelsea’s second goal
Kai Havertz nearly made it three moments later when he shot on goal and Alonso grazed with a similar shot later in the time after Konsa again tested Mendy with a set-kick header.
There was more effort from Watkins and Mings, but Mendy repeatedly faced danger on a night when he was busier than he’d expected. That solid foundation allowed Chelsea to advance into the finals and they finished their third win in four games with excitement in injury time with Lukaku firing at the corner of the goalposts.
Saul’s debut to forget
In the first half, Saul won one of nine duels, suffered three fouls, missed six passes (with 83.8% passing accuracy) and had 58% passing accuracy in Villa’s half. He gained possession once and lost it nine times.
Later, Thomas Tuchel told Sky Sports: “We saw that Saul had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the intensity of the Premier League, our structure and our style of play.
“It has been difficult [take him off] but I had a feeling he was torn. He made some big mistakes, passing mistakes and mistakes. He struggled with the intensity and it showed that he was not fully adapted. This is completely my responsibility. I thought he could just come in and play for us at this level.
“It is very difficult [to adapt]. I told you before, it’s my responsibility if it doesn’t work out for the match of your life. When he struggled a little with the losses of the ball and created some chances for Aston Villa, I thought it was better to change him. “
What the managers said …
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel: “It was absolutely not comfortable. We played against a strong, strong Aston Villa. They were well prepared. They seemed very bright and confident from the start and they caused us a lot of problems, especially in the first half.”
“The second half was better. More control, a smoother game and then many chances and half chances that we didn’t take very well. We lacked the precision to score early goals but that’s okay.
“Lukaku has personality and self-confidence, he wants to score and help the team with his goals and he has the composure to do it. He scored two very difficult goals, no easy tap-ins, and he made a difference for us and made us Helped to get three points against a very strong Aston Villa, he adds something to the group that until now we didn’t have in this capacity ”.
Speaking after the 3-0 win over Aston Villa, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel explains why he decided to withdraw new signing Saul Niguez at half-time on his debut.
Dean Smith, head of Aston Villa: “I’m frustrated with the result, but football is made up of moments and today we didn’t take our moments. I feel that with the team I have available, with the quality of the team and the athleticism we have, we can go and do I asked these clubs and I thought we made it in the first half. The second goal took our breath away. But there were many positive aspects, there is a lot of confidence in this group. “
Dean Smith says mistakes in both penalty areas cost his side against Chelsea as Aston Villa impressed despite a 3-0 Premier League defeat at Stamford Bridge.
Statistics opt
- Chelsea recorded their 600th Premier League win tonight, joining Manchester United (690) as the only team to reach this milestone in the competition.
- Aston Villa have lost six of their last seven Premier League away games to Stamford Bridge (1 draw), conceding 21 goals and scoring just three in return in those meetings.
- Chelsea have conceded just one Premier League goal so far this season, the lowest after four league games since 2010-11 under Carlo Ancelotti (also one).
- Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 91 Premier League games at Stamford Bridge when they were leading at half-time (W75 D16), with the last such defeat in October 2011 against Arsenal (3-5).
- Despite failing to score, Aston Villa attempted 18 shots at Stamford Bridge – only Liverpool (24, in Chelsea’s previous match) fired in multiple attempts in a Premier League match against the Blues under Thomas Tuchel .
- Mateo Kovacic first scored and assisted Chelsea in a Premier League match, while last time in a European top five league match in January 2017 with Real Madrid (v Real Sociedad).
- Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku – who later scored twice – scored his first goal for the club at Stamford Bridge, in what was his 15th ground appearance and his 22nd shot attempt.
- Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku has scored in each of his last six Premier League appearances against Aston Villa (eight goals) – only against West Ham has he scored multiple times in consecutive games against a specific opponent in the competition (seven, between 2013 and 2016).
What’s next?
Chelsea host Zenit St Petersburg in the Champions League on Tuesday at 8pm, before heading to Tottenham next Sunday, live on Sky Sports for kickoff at 4.30pm. Aston Villa will be their next home game against Everton at 5:30 pm on Saturday, live on Sky Sports.
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