Aston Villa welcomed the Blues to the Villa Park with a very low turn-up today, as the home side who are placed on the bottom of the league have only void points left to be played for this season with the relegation looming larger by the day. Chelsea lined up resting a few players from the international duty giving playing time for youngsters like Kenedy, Loftus-Cheek and the American debutante Miazga.
The sunny afternoon began hopeful for both sides, as despite the current state of the home side, the manager-less Villa seemed much more threatening than expected at first. Remi Garde was sacked earlier this week and the replacing caretaker Eric Black was unfortunately nothing to add on to the earlier manager to stop Chelsea from hammering the Premier League bottom side.
Aston Villa might’ve got a bit under the skin of the visitors in the first 20 minutes, but the more time there was on the clock, the more Chelsea were on the ball.
Loic Remy was subbed off due to an injury after a heavy clash in the midfield, being replaced by another debutante of the day – Alexandre Pato. There has been a lot of speculation of the Brazilian’s loan contract to be terminated early, but with Remy getting a knock and Costa out suspended, he has finally got his first Chelsea appearance.
It took 25 minutes for the Blues to officially break the deadlock as following Mikel’s brilliant footwork and a great through ball for Azpilicueta by Pedro on the right flank, Loftus-Cheek gets on the end of the Spaniard’s low cross, finishing the ball brilliantly into the back of the net out of Guzan’s reach. The goal was his first ever in the Premier League, and second ever for Chelsea’s first team.
Aston Villa had a few chances to equalize after the Chelsea goal, as Fabregas was close to get his second booking of the game after a foul on Ayew to reward the hosts a free-kick 20 meters on goal, which the Villa frontman struck himself to be saved by Courtois. Baba Rahman’s clearance was also close to be deflected back in a few minutes after the first incident.
Alexandre Pato really stood out compared to the other Chelsea plyers, as the Brazilian was constantly hungry to get behind the defensive line and look for an overlap through the gaps. The work paid off for him on the brink of the half as the Chelsea loanee was pulled down inside the box by Cissokho, with the referee awarding a penalty and a booking for the offense.
Pato himself stepped up to take the penalty, blasting a brilliant finish past Guzan, who guessed the right way but was unable to stop the shot going in. The Brazilian getting his first goal for the club surely meant a lot for the 26-year-old, whose next season’s plans are still wide open.
Pato’s goal was the last kick of the half as Chelsea were cruising into their 15th consecutive match unbeaten in the Premier League. Unfortunate for the hosts, Chelsea didn’t stop at half-time to make Villa’s seventh loss in a row certain.
Hiddink substituted Kenedy off at the break to bring on Oscar, who was left unused on his international trip with Brazil. The Chelsea ace was right away involved with a beautiful link-up between him, fellow Brazilian Pato and Pedro to score Chelsea’s third.
Oscar and Pato played a beautiful one-two on the edge of the box releasing the former-Internacional man inside the box to supply the arriving Pedro who clinically taps in a great comeback goal for the Spaniard. Villa were falling apart right from the start of the second period and Chelsea kept using their advantage.
No mercy for the hosts as Pedro came in with his second just 13 minutes after his first. Pato’s shot outside the box is poorly parried away by Guzan, making it easy for Pedro to run and tap in the rebound to make it four.
The reason for the disappointed Villa fans’ low attendance and strong demonstration against the club was well explained today, as the Birmingham side – who have been fighting for relegation for the last four years – have shown their worst team ever this season showing no character at all to avoid the drop to the Championship.
On the 76th minute Villa fans raised their black cards above their heads saying “Proud History – What Future?” everywhere, all around the ground. It is a good question though, as the club owner Randy Lerner’s actions for the Premier League side have been very questionable and passionless for the past few years, getting worse day by day.
Chelsea though showed no mood for the club or their fans today and didn’t give them a blink of a chance to score a goal in front of their abysmal fans.
It couldn’t have been much worse for Aston Villa today, as they were denied a penalty and a corner, added with a sen-off for Hutton on the closing stages of the game. Lucky for them, they escaped more Chelsea goals as the game turned static after the fourth.
Chelsea succeeded to claim their first Premier League clean sheet since November and gave successive debuts to Clarke-Salter, Pato and Miazga. A strong win takes Chelsea one place higher up the table on the 9th spot, leaving Aston Villa on the bottom of the table with a horrifying goal difference of -40. Where will their future lay then? We’ll find that out in the last 7 remaining games of the season.
