A frustrating and fiery evening left Chelsea with 9 players, no manager on the touchline and a goal behind as Aston Villa prevailed at Villa park.
A host of incorrect refereeing and offside decisions played a part in Chelsea falling to just their 4th defeat of the season at the hands of Aston Villa.
Fernando Torres was a surprise inclusion in the Chelsea team following an injury last weekend, and was incorrectly called offside early on whilst clearly through on goal.
More incorrect offside decisions followed before Chelsea looked to have taken the lead, before referee Chris Foy said, somewhat correctly, that Nemanja Matic had handled the ball before scoring what would have been his first goal for Chelsea.
To top off an eventful first half, Chelsea felt aggrieved that Joe Bennett escaped with just a yellow card following his challenge on Ramires as the Brazilian ran through on goal.
Aston Villa would argue, however, that centre-half Ron Vlaar was covering and the ball may have been moving away from the goal, and therefore not a goalscoring opportunity.
The teams went in goalless at the break with no further clear scoirng chances for either side despite a list of decisions that Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho would habe been unhappy with.
At this point, Chelsea fans may not have been blamed for being relaxed, with all seven of Chelsea’s goals in the last two weeks coming in the second half, they may have been expecting more of the same.
That trend looked to be continuing when Chelsea shot out the blocks in the second half, with Guzan forced into a save from Hazard’s deflected cross.
However, their spark tailed off and the game became a more even contest, with Christian Benteke coming close following Andi Weimann’s cutback.
Chelsea were later reduced to ten men, when a rather innocent looking challenge from Willian as the Brazilian tracked back was deemed a second yellow by referee Chris Foy.
Aston Villa then struck the fatal blow when they found Branislav Ivanovic and Ramires, the latter possibly fouled in the build-up, out of position and midfielder Fabian Delph brilliant improvising to tuck away Albrighton’s cross.
The timing of the goal meant Chelsea had just over 8 minutes to find a reply – a step too far for Mourinho’s men, at this point with just 10 men on the pitch away from home.
Later, Chelsea’s frustrations were confounded as Ramires was correctly sent off for a late and dangerous challenge on El Ahmadi.
However, the annoyance came when Jose Mourinho was sent to the stands for simply requesting a word with the referee.
After the final whistle went at 1-0 to the home side, Jose Mourinho decided against letting his feelings known in his press conference:
“I prefer not to speak because, the referees, they do what they do and they refuse to exchange even a few words.”
Mourinho also claimed that he asked for “5 seconds” to speak to Chris Foy, but the referee said “No, I don’t speak with you”.
To the performances, and the decision to bring Fernando Torres back earlier than expected from injury proved to be an interesting one, with the Spaniard struggling to influence the game up front on his own. He was eventually replaced with Demba Ba.
A talking point came when Chelsea prepared to replace Willian with Andre Schurrle, before Jose Mourinho instead to put Oscar’s number up to come off the field. Moments later, Willian saw his second yellow card.
The referees decisions may shadow the lack of chances that Chelsea created – with just 2 shots on target. Chelse have not registered a lower total in a game all season.
Chelsea’s two Brazilian’s who saw red, Willian and Ramires, will miss Chelsea’s home game against title rivals Arsenal in their next Premier League outing.
Chelsea fans will see their team play next on Tuesday night when they welcome Dider Drogba back to Stamford Bridge as they look to progress on the 1-1 draw earned in Istanbul.
Aston Villa vs Chelsea: Post-match facts:
- Chris Foy has given out 6 red cards to Chelsea players in his last 8 games officiating the Blues
- Chelsea won just 4 of their 24 tackles today. Villa won 21.
- Jose Mourinho has failed to win any of his five away games against Aston Villa in the Premier League (Drawn 3, lost 2)
