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27 min: Ramsey is sent romping down the left on the counter. He’s got Watkins free in the middle, and clearly plans to cross to him, but takes one touch too many, allowing James to slide in and block. What recovery by the Chelsea defender! That saved an almost certain goal.
26 min: A Chelsea free kick out on the right. James wedges it in. Young batters clear. Chelsea are dominating, but they haven’t given Martinez too much to do since the goal.
25 min: Havertz chests down a left-wing cross on the edge of the Villa box and slams a low shot towards the bottom right. Martinez deals with it effortlessly.
24 min: Chilwell tumbles in the Villa box and claims a penalty. The referee shows no interest whatsoever in awarding one, and so Chilwell races after him at warp speed. He’s got half a point, because it turns out he was brought down by Konsa … but it happened outside the penalty box, so VAR can’t intervene.
23 min: Loftus-Cheek and Ramsey compete for a long pass played down the Chelsea right. Ramsey thinks it leads to a goal kick; Loftus-Cheek, the linesman and the referee say corner. The set piece is played back to James who curls into the box. Fernandez flashes a header wide right from close range.
21 min: Nothing comes of the corner, but that’s a decent response to falling behind by Chelsea.
20 min: Loftus-Cheek makes good down the right and crosses deep. Chilwell can’t get a header on goal but holds onto possession, and recycles down the left. Felix cuts into the box and lashes a low shot towards the bottom left. Martinez turns it around the post.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Aston Villa (Watkins 18)
Luiz takes up possession deep in his own half and launches long down the middle. Cucurella and Koulibaly both run upfield to meet the ball. They get in each other’s way. Cucurella gets to the ball first and it skims off his head, sending the lurking Watkins tearing clear. He reads the situation and lobs calmly over Kepa. Easy as that!
17 min: Ramsey takes on three Chelsea players down the left before cutting back for Buendia, who rolls infield for McGinn. The Scotland goal machine opens his body and, from the edge of the box, sidefoots towards the top left. Off the top of the bar! Ping! So close to a wonderful goal.
15 min: The corner’s half cleared. Kovacic hits one of the more comical volleys you’ll see this season, shaking it wide right and generating so much spin the ball doesn’t even reach the right-hand edge of the penalty box. The offside flag pops up to take everyone’s mind off what they’ve just seen.
14 min: Kovacic is dispossessed in the centre circle by Buendia with absurd ease. Watkins is sent scampering down the left. He enters the box but his low cross is read and blocked by Koulibaly. Chelsea counter through Felix and Havertz, who combine at speed down the right, but before the latter can get a shot away, Konsa slides in to deflect the ball out for a corner.
12 min: McGinn charges into Cucurella from behind. The referee gives the Villa midfielder some advice that will be beneficial going forward. This game has a nice little edge to it. Nothing too sinister, all good fun.
11 min: Loftus-Cheek turns on the jets and enters the Villa box from the right. Moreno slides in and plays the ball back off Loftus-Cheek and out for a corner. Loftus-Cheek wants a penalty, though, and there was a little contact. It would have been hellishly soft, but you’ve seen them given.
9 min: Felix takes a swipe off the ball at McGinn’s ankles. McGinn had been bothering him seconds earlier, but that was an unnecessary escalation and he’s lucky neither referee nor VAR considered it worthy of action.
7 min: What a chance (pt II)! McGinn, out on the right, plays a first-time diagonal pass infield that splits Chelsea’s defence in two. Watkins is free … but drags an appalling shot across Kepa and wide left. Somewhere in the metaverse, it’s 1-1.
6 min: Martinez plays out from the back. The hospital ball he gives Kamara is intercepted by Mudryk, who slams a shot straight at the keeper. Great save, and nothing comes of the corner. What a chance!
4 min: Luiz swings a poor one down the throat of Kepa, who bowls out immediately to Havertz. The German zips away on the counter and is clipped by Kamara, who goes into the book for his cynicism. Buendia argues the toss with the referee, who tells him the preceding Fernandez foul on Ramsey was “not the same”. Kamara’s was a nailed-on booking, but you can see Buendia’s point too. It should really be one yellow each.
3 min: Luiz intercepts a poor Koulibaly pass and sends Ramsey skittering down the inside-left channel. Ramsey is cynically clipped by Fernandez. Luiz will take this free kick. Villa load the box.
2 min: Havertz makes good down the left and crosses. The ball pings off a defender and flies into the path of Kovacic, who skies a speculative effort into the aforementioned end.
1 min: A bit of space for Chilwell down the left. He hoicks dismally into the Shed, and holds his hand up in embarrassment.
Villa get the ball rolling. The Bridge roars as one in expectation. The away fans are giving it plenty.
The teams are out! As the players take to the pitch, Stamford Bridge skanks to the strains of The Liquidator. Chelsea wear royal blue, Villa claret. We’ll be off in a minute!
Pre-match excitement (albeit not for this). “Greetings from America, land of ex president indictments,” begins Mary Waltz. “Of course I will be following this MBM but as far as watching I have a choice between this Chelsea fixture or Bayern v Dortmund. Potter may be a fine manager but Gawd Chelsea plays a dull brand of football. Bundesliga it is.” Enjoy Der Klassiker, Mary. See you on the other side.
Sky talk to Villa’s Unai Emery. “We try to work as a team both offensively and defensively … we try to use our best performance … we practice … Kamara is a very good player … defensively he helps us a lot … we will try to use McGinn further ahead … in 90 minutes we have to use everybody.”
Chelsea boss Graham Potter speaks to Sky. “We had a good week with three wins and were a little frustrated with just a point against Everton, so now the challenge is to bounce back from that … Villa are a good side, Unai has done a really good job so we know what we’re up against … [three at the back] gives us a decent balance, we have the flexibility to change as well ... Marc and Reece on the lateral positions can be aggressive, and that’s something we can put to use.”
Chelsea make three changes to the starting XI named for the 2-2 draw at home to Everton. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mykhailo Mudryk and Marc Cucurella come in for Benoit Badiashile and Christian Pulisic, who drop to the bench, and the injured Wesley Fofana.
Aston Villa make two changes to the XI that started the 3-0 rout of Bournemouth. Ashley Young comes in for the injured Matty Cash, while Boubacar Kamara replaces the benched Leon Bailey.
The teams
Chelsea: Kepa, James, Koulibaly, Cucurella, Loftus-Cheek, Fernandez, Kovacic, Chilwell, Havertz, Mudryk, Felix.
Subs: Badiashile, Kanté, Pulisic, Bettinelli, Chalobah, Mount, Gallagher, Chukwuemeka, Madueke.
Aston Villa: Martinez, Young, Konsa, Mings, Moreno, Luiz, Kamara, McGinn, Buendia, Ramsey, Watkins.
Subs: Silva, Traore, Chambers, Duran, Digne, Bailey, Dendoncker, Sinisalo, Wright.
Preamble
Tenth-placed Chelsea host 11th-placed Aston Villa. The very definition of a mid-table non-event, some might say. But both teams, in the wake of fumbling their way through February, have gathered a bit of momentum, and neither will fancy giving any of it up. A strong finish to the season could depend on this. Kick off is at 5.30pm BST. It’s on!
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