Chelsea made light work of Aston Villa on Sunday en route to a comfortable 3-0 victory.
Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer were all on target for the dominant Blues, who continue to keep up the pace at the top of the Premier League table, while Villa slump down into the bottom half of the standings as their miserable form continues.
How the game unfolded
Chelsea got off to the perfect start with a goal after just seven minutes. Marc Cucurella recovered possession high and combined with Jadon Sancho to get in behind, and his cut-back was expertly turned into the back of the net by Jackson courtesy of a delightful flick off the post.
Some excellent Villa play resulted in a weak penalty shout from Youri Tielemans which was waved away, before Ollie Watkins should have equalised. He shrugged off Wesley Fofana but declined to square to Morgan Rogers and instead drove towards Sanchez, who got down very well to deny the striker from close range.
Chelsea were awarded an indirect free kick on the edge of the six-yard box after Emiliano Martinez picked up a back-pass midway through the half. Cole Palmer ended up firing goalward but saw his effort sent back by the Villa stopper, before Romeo Lavia’s attempt was also knocked away by the wall of defenders charging off the line.
Martinez played both villain and hero shortly after. The goalkeeper inexplicably passed directly to Jackson just a few yards away from him, before flinging himself at the Chelsea forward’s feet to push the ball away from danger.
The Chelsea pressure kept on coming and Fernandez added a second 36 minutes in. He collected a smart pass from Palmer and fizzed in a delightful half-volley with the outside of his boot into the bottom of Villa’s net.
Jackson crashed over in the early stages of the second half as Chelsea looked to kill the game off, before a heavy touch when running through on goal allowed substitute goalkeeper Robin Olsen to neutralise any danger.
There was a bit more life about Villa as Jhon Duran sent a powerful header towards goal, with only a timely deflection from a confident Levi Colwill preventing the ball from nestling in the back of the net.
However, Palmer ended any slim hopes of a Villa comeback with a sensational effort from the edge of the penalty area, curling the ball beyond Olsen to wrap up all three points.
Somehow, Chelsea failed to add a fourth late on. Joao Felix saw a smart shot well saved by Olsen, who denied Noni Madueke from the rebound and was grateful to see Felix fail to finish off some penalty-box pinball.
Filip Jorgensen produced perhaps the best performance from any Chelsea goalkeeper in the past few years during the midweek win over Heidenheim but, despite mounting pressure from fans, Enzo Maresca opted to persist with the under-fire Robert Sanchez here.
As seems to be the usual, we got the good, the bad and the ugly from Sanchez here. He made an excellent save to deny Ollie Watkins, before leaving fans frustrated with a pass straight out of play. However, before many had finished venting, Sanchez produced an utterly spectacular long ball forwards – a strong reminder of what he can do.
With Reece James back on the sidelines, Maresca opted to drop Moises Caicedo back to right-back here. It was a noteworthy sight on the team sheet but not one which really changed Chelsea’s approach to things.
The Ecuador international was still allowed to invert into midfield, where his extra physicality helped Enzo Fernandez and Romeo Lavia control proceedings.
Caicedo raised his game in the second half as his immense stamina levels began to shine, hoovering up loose balls and helping Chelsea’s search for the third and final goal.
The first half was an absolute rollercoaster for Emiliano Martinez, who seemed determined to be the focal point of each and every minute. He strangely picked up a back-pass and inexplicably handed Nicolas Jackson the ball on a silver platter, only to make up for it with some impressive saves.
Unfortunately, Martinez did not emerge from the first half unscathed. He grabbed for his back after falling awkwardly when claiming a cross and, after some on-field treatment, was eventually withdrawn at the break.
Robin Olsen came on to replace Martinez and certainly enjoyed a quieter showing than his teammate. The Swede managed a handful of smart saves late on and should have built some confidence ahead of what could be a run in the team.
Few Chelsea players have faced pressure quite like Enzo Fernandez in the past two seasons. Even this year, when things started to trend upwards for the Blues, Fernandez looked to have been left behind and was quickly dropped from the team.
Challenged to force his way back into the starting lineup, Fernandez has exceeded expectations recently with a run of dazzling individual form. He’s now scored in back-to-back Premier League matches and has contributed to at least one goal in three on the bounce.
Injuries have not been kind to Wesley Fofana, but Blues fans will be hoping his visible disappointment when he limped off in the second half stemmed more from frustration than concern.
Fofana appeared to accidentally stand on the ball after losing his footing in a challenge and looked to be holding his hamstring, perhaps having tweaked his leg in a desperate lunge for the ball.
Given Fofana’s lengthy injury record, there’s a chance he’ll be rested even if the damage isn’t significant.
