this match
Chelsea
Lining up in a 4231 at home, defenders T. Silva, Disasi, Colwill, Gusto, backs Gallagher, Caicedo, attacking midfielder Enzo Fernandez, wings Mudryk, Sterling, forwards Jackson
Villa are also in 4231, with Konsa, PauTorres, Cash, Digne at the back, Kamara, Luiz at the back, Moussa Diaby in attacking midfield, McGinn, Zaniolo on the wings and Watkins up front.
(Pre-emptive link)
Both teams were careful in the first part of the first half.
Chelsea
Although they are at home, they have been in terrible shape since the beginning of the season, and now the whole team's offense is in a very poor state, and they have to be careful in controlling the ball to look for attacking chances, and Villa is very vigilant as the visiting team.
Chelsea
They're preparing for a counterattack.
Chelsea
They had their first good chance in the 23rd minute when Mudryk dinked the ball down the left flank and passed it straight to Jackson, who ran diagonally and came out to receive the ball, firing a shot from just outside the box that was blocked by the keeper.
At 34 minutes.
Chelsea
The second chance came when Disasi played a long pass into the back of the field, right back Gusto drove down the right side to receive the ball, got the ball in front of the end line and passed it back first time, followed by Enzo Fernandez, who took a 17-yard shot straight to the right that was deflected away.
You can actually see that if it hits as a counterattack
Chelsea
The fit is actually pretty good, and that's because now
Chelsea
Players with speed, including Jackson, Mudryk, Sterling, etc. are actually better suited for counterattacks
But Villa have also been prepared, and they are targeting the
Chelsea
's flawed attack at the 37:00 mark
Chelsea
A back-pass to the halfway line was intercepted by Villa and started a fast break, Caicedo could only track back and fouled Watkins into a free-kick, which in effect
Chelsea
Although they want to play conduction, it is obvious that the fullbacks are not stable, and most of the time they can only play the ball at the back, but it is more difficult for them to rush forward to cooperate with the wingers, which makes it relatively difficult to advance.
Then at 37:00 Villa took a corner kick and drove to the far side of the header, Zaniolo swept the ball on the left side of the nine-yard box, which was very dangerous and direct high-speed attack on goal, but fortunately the goalkeeper Sanchez reacted quickly enough to block it!
Chelsea
Recycling the line a little at the start of the second half and attacking with quick passes through the halfway line, Jackson and Sterling both had chances individually, and there was indeed space in front of them and they were able to run at pace!
Chelsea
The offensive lineup can actually play pretty well
However, tragedy struck in the 58th minute, when Gusto knocked down Digne in an exchange of words on the sideline, there was a stomp, the referee saw the VAR and ruled that it was a straight red card.
Chelsea
Caught in a ten-man battle
Chelsea
Forced to replace Mudryk and bring on Chilwell to supplement the defense, with one man short, Villa pushed their line forward and both wingbacks Digne and Cash started to press forward, starting as far as possible from the outside of the wings, which would have left one man short.
Chelsea
Can't get out of the zone to play defense.
Pochettino had to replace Jackson & EnzoFernandez with Ugochukwu & Palmer and was left with only the counterattack to play with
Chelsea
A counter attack into the Villa box in the 72nd minute was a good move, but Villa hit back immediately, Moussa Diaby took advantage of a mistake by T.Silva to steal the ball and start his run, then passed it forward to Watkins, who took the ball all the way down to the byline to challenge Colwill, who blocked his shot, but the ball was still in front of him. The ball was still in front of him, so he took the ball to the byline and fired a shot into the far corner of the net from a virtually zero angle to give Villa the away lead!
Chelsea
