Chelsea FC enjoyed a comeback win against Aston Villa in their opening game of Premier League’s Project Restart. The Blues were left trailing Aston Villa 1-0 at the end of the first 45 minutes with Kortney Hause giving the hosts the lead.
A one-minute silence in the tribute of all the people who have passed away due to the ongoing pandemic was observed before the game. Afterwards, players took the knee to show their support to the Black Lives Matter protests.
The Blues were considerably rusty in the first half of the game. On the other hand, Aston Villa seemed lively on the pitch due to the game being their second in four days.
During the game, Chelsea FC’s weakness at defending set-pieces was exposed thoroughly. The Blues were caught sleeping on the far-post on many occasions. This proved to be fatal as Hause scored from the rebound, following a save from Kepa. However, the move for the goal was initiated from a cross by Douglas Luiz which could not be cleared to safety by the Blues defence.
The second half of the game saw the introduction of Ross Barkley and Cristian Pulisic. The duo replaced midfielders Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Matteo Kovacic. Pulisic soon began to cause trouble to the Aston Villa defence on the right flank.
The American posed problems for the Villa defenders as they failed to cope up with his rapid pace. Pulisic soon scored to level the game with the 21-year old volleying the ball off the underside of the post. Blues captain Cesar Azpilicueta claimed the assist to Pulisic’s goal.
Azpilicueta soon was involved in assisting the second Blues goal as well. The Spaniard found Olivier Giroud with a precise pass. The French international turned on the spin and fired in a shot from the penalty spot to give Chelsea FC the lead.
The match soon ended 2-1 in favour of the Blues, who recorded their first away league win of 2020. The result left Chelsea FC five points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United FC in the Premier League table.
One of the highlights of the game included Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s first appearance in the Blues shirt in over a year. The English international had injured his Achilles nearly 13 months ago while on pre-season tour in Boston. His comeback provided hope to Frank Lampard, who is a huge admirer of the young midfielder.
MATCH STATS
SCORE: 1-2
Possession: Aston Villa- 26% Chelsea FC- 74%
Yellow Cards: Aston Villa – 2 Chelsea FC – 1
Shots: Aston Villa – 8 Chelsea FC – 19
Offsides: Aston Villa – 0 Chelsea FC – 0
