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Chelsea continued their strong start to this Premier League season with what was a relatively routine and predictable victory against an Aston Villa side whose lofty standing in the table was never likely to last long.
Jose Mourinho's side took an early lead at Stamford Bridge, scoring inside the 7th minute for the third time running at home against the Villans and, as shown in their mirrored 3-0 defeat against Arsenal last weekend, the visitors lacked the creativity to cause a threat at the opposite end thereafter. It's a concern for a team whose game plan appears to be to merely keep a clean sheet and take what chances fall their way.
After the match Paul Lambert stated that in games such as this 'when you get a chance you've got to score', the problem that he failed to elude to was that said chances were few and far between, and have been all season. In comparison Chelsea are creating them at will and it's telling that by the time Alan Hutton had Villa's first and only shot on target in the 69th minute, Diego Costa had struck to score as many goals this season as Villa had mustered attempts on goal (8).
It's hardly surprising that Villa lined up with a 4-5-1 formation away from home at league leaders Chelsea but what that does mean is that once you've conceded, particularly so early on, there needs to be support for the lone striker in order to get back into the game. Stand-in skipper Gabby Agbonlahor cut a forlorn figure for much of the match and doesn't possess the ability to bring others into play around him that Benteke can offer.
Deploying the lone striker
A look at the average player positions map based on touches may not immediately show that there was too much difference between the teams in terms of support from midfield to the main striker but that doesn't tell the whole story. Gabby Agbonlahor's (11) position is far deeper than that of Costa, showing that he had to drop back in order to get on the ball.
The Chelsea striker (19) is incredibly advanced in comparison, with 5 teammates also stationed in the opposition half compared to just one teammate for Agbonlahor. One of those Chelsea players taking up an advanced position was Branislav Ivanovic (2) and his threat going forward saw Villa's nullified on their left side, with just 23% of their attacking touches coming down a flank that Andi Weimann, the most attacking player in the line up to support Agbonlahor, was deployed.
Having been shunted out to the wing for some time now - enough for Lambert to suggest that Villa are playing without a recognised striker despite the presence of both Agbonlahor and Weimann - the former no longer has the intelligence of movement required when playing as a lone striker. At the other end that certainly wasn't the case. Diego Costa is among the best around when it comes to peeling off the back of defenders and his movement to net Chelsea's decisive second was common practice.
The Brazilian-cum-Spaniard also has the luxury of players in behind him that possess similar tendencies to stay constantly on the move. Hazard, Oscar and Willian interchanged positions and made it impossible for Villa's compact three in the midfield to do a man mark job on any one of them. The hosts were allowed the freedom to bring the ball forward deep into Villa's territory due to a lack of pressure in the pocket between midfield and striker from the away side and were camped on the visitors box for considerable spells.
It should be mentioned that Villa had started each half brightly enough but Lambert's side did the same against Arsenal and do so often before retreating to what has become the norm. Now in possession of three central midfield players capable of keeping the ball and moving it well between one another - Cleverley, Delph and Westwood completed 165 of their combined 177 pass attempts (93%) - the issue of a lack of link man between that neat passing and the striker is as obvious as it is longstanding.
Where Villa lack cutting edge Chelsea have it in abundance. Mourinho's options in support of Costa, who has already proven to be the lethal marksman that the Blues themselves have craved since Drogba's pomp, are scary and arguably what rightly make them favourites to regain the league title from Manchester City.
Nevertheless, it seems that the fitness of each of these sides’ focal point will ultimately shape their season. The Chelsea boss continues to play up the fact that Costa is not even at full capacity yet, claiming post-match that he is currently doing 'almost nothing' in training and sending a hint to Vicente del Bosque that omission from the next national squad would be best in the long run for both Costa's club and adopted country. As far as Villa are concerned the imminent return of Christian Benteke cannot come soon enough.
