Aston Villa ran their winning streak to 11 with a 2-1 comeback win over wasteful Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
MORE — Unai Emery reaction | Enzo Maresca reaction
Joao Pedro scored early for Chelsea but Ollie Watkins came off the bench to score two goals as the Villans took their league-best 16th, 17th, and 18th points from losing positions this season.
WATCH — Chelsea v Aston Villa full match replay
Villa move back within three points of leaders Arsenal, one behind Man City with 39 points. Chelsea are stuck in fifth place with 29 points, ahead of Manchester United on goal differential.
Chelsea piled up 10 shots and 1.98 xG on 71% of first-half possession but scored just once.
Villa play with fire but stay unscathed midway through brutal week
Aston Villa defended deep in the first half and it felt almost miraculous that they made it to halftime down 1-0. By the time Ollie Watkins had come off the bench to score twice and completely flip the script on Chelsea for another big away win, it felt paradoxically inevitable. Chelsea’s finishing was substandard in the first half as Cole Palmer remains out-of-form and Liam Delap came into the game to look pretty rusty himself. Villa, meanwhile, took six points from Man United and Chelsea this week and may well come out of a tremendous three-match test with a 100% record if Unai Emery can once again outfox Mikel Arteta and former club Arsenal with a win on Tuesday in North London. Would you bet on it? Probably not, but you also now know better than to rule Villa out regardless of how they look to start the match on Saturday.
What’s next?
Chelsea host Bournemouth at 2:30pm ET Tuesday, then go to Manchester City at 12:30pm Sunday, January 4.
Villa have another big test, visiting Arsenal at 3:15pm Tuesday. They’ll host Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Chelsea vs Aston Villa final score: 1-2
Joao Pedro 38', Ollie Watkins 63', 84'
Chelsea vs Aston Villa live updates
Ollie Watkins goal — Chelsea 1-2 Aston Villa
Off a corner, Villa have come all the way back to take the lead.
It’s the sub again, Watkins, who gets between the engaged James and Malo Gusto to head Youri Tielemans’ service over the line.
Villa make changes
Maatsen leaves for Lucas Digne and Kamara departs for Lamare Bogarde in the 83rd.
Enter Estevao
Estevao Willian makes his return to the team for Palmer in the 72nd minute.
Chelsea subs
Liam Delap, Malo Gusto, and Jamie Gittens replace Pedro, Cucurella, and Garnacho in the 69th minute.
Sanchez keeps it level
Rogers reverses a pass to meet Ian Maatsen’s run and Robert Sanchez’s had to keep a strong forearm just to limit the damage to a corner kick.
Ollie Watkins goal — Chelsea 1-1 Aston Villa
The substitute makes it 1-1, and we feel like foreshadowing champions.
Morgan Rogers puts Ollie Watkins into the box. The forward’s first touch is heavy and his shot blocked by Sanchez before hitting Watkins and propel over the goal line.
Hour mark and Chelsea have left it in balance
The Blues are far superior to Villa today but just won’t cash in a second goal.
The misses are highlighted as Robert Sanchez has to charge out to deny a counterattack break from Boubacar Kamara.
Chelsea lead 1-0 into the 62nd minute.
Villa subs
Off go John McGinn, Donyell Malen, and Emi Buendia for Ollie Watkins, Jadon Sancho, and Amadou Onana in the 59th minute.
Halftime — Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa
These 45 minutes were almost exclusively Chelsea, so let’s see what Unai Emery changes at the break.
Enter Villa
Well it’s clear that the defense-first tactics were by design, as Villa are now trying to possess the ball a bit more and attack.
Joao Pedro goal — Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa
Emiliano Martinez loses his head on a corner kick here, as he’s so concerned with shoving Enzo Fernandez and then Joao Pedro that Reece James’ corner is set to coast into the goal.
Pedro gets a bit of his body on it and will claim the goal, but all of that defending from Villa sees their clean sheet end with user error from their keeper.
This game needs a goal
Reece James sends a bounding shot wide of the far post as Chelsea are being frustrated by Villa..
The Villans have set up in a way where they are defending the top chalk of the 18 and inviting the Blues to go side-to-side in search of a cross or low-percentage shot.
Martinez keeps it scoreless
Pedro Neto’s swept-in cross from the left is goal-bound but meets the chest of a stooping, splayed, and well-positioned Emiliano Martinez.
Villa are in just hanging in there.
0-0, 25'.
Enzo butchers chance for 1-0
Brilliant from Alejandro Garnacho after Cole Palmer’s dribble draws several defenders away from the center of the box.
Palmer finds Garnacho, who cuts back for Enzo Fernandez in all kind of space.
The Argentine sails an upper 90 hope around the far top corner.
Chelsea holding the ball early
Chelsea have come to play, as Villa have not really put a spell of possession together in the first 12 minutes.
Morgan Rogers shoves Marc Cucurella over after coming together with Benoit Badiashile. He’ll dodge a card because Cucurella exaggerated in hilarious fashion.
Chelsea lineup
Sanchez, James, Chalobah, Badiashile, Cucurella, Caicedo, Fernandez, Neto, Palmer, Garnacho, Pedro
Aston Villa lineup
Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGInn, Buendia, Rogers, Malen
Chelsea vs Aston Villa preview
Seven of those wins have come in the Premier League, as Unai Emery’s Villans have surged into a three-team title race with Arsenal and Manchester City. Villa enter the weekend three points back of the former and one behind the latter, with both of the aforementioned rivals kicking off earlier Saturday.
Chelsea have slumped out of the title race since claiming status with an impressive 10-man draw with Arsenal on November 30. The Blues have won just one of four Premier League matches in December, dropping points in three away matches with a loss at Leeds and draws at Bournemouth and Newcastle.
The Blues did beat Everton at the Bridge 2-0 on December 13, and boast home wins over Barcelona and Liverpool this season, too.
Chelsea team news, focus
OUT: Romeo Lavia (thigh), Dario Essugo (thigh), Levi Colwill (torn ACL - MORE), Mykhailo Mudryk (suspension)
Aston Villa team news, focus
OUT: Evann Guessand (international duty - AFCON), Pau Torres (calf), Tyrone Mings (hamstring), Ross Barkley (unspecified) | QUESTIONABLE: Harvey Elliott (illness)
Chelsea vs Aston Villa prediction
Belief is buzzing through the Villa team right now but advanced metrics show a Chelsea side that has been superior to their visitors despite decent-length absences for Cole Palmer and some other key pieces. Put the Blues down for at least a point on Saturday. Chelsea 2-1 Aston Villa.
How to watch Chelsea vs Aston Villa live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 12:30pm ET Saturday
Venue: Stamford Bridge — West London
TV Channel: NBC
Streaming: Watch live on NBC.com
