Aston Villa 1-2 Chelsea - Match Analysis

In what was a crucial game for both sides for vastly different reasons, it was Chelsea who emerged triumphant, courtesy a Frank Lampard double, which first equalled, and then beat, Bobby Tambling’s record as Chelsea’s all time leading goal scorer. Aston Villa showed plenty of spirit and determination, but, as has been the case all season, they came up just short of a good result.

The game started amidst pounding rain, and both teams looked settled. Chelsea, playing in their somewhat unlucky black kits, enjoyed plenty of early possession. They settled into a spell but lacked bite in the final third. Pace, which is so essential in making their attacking trio work, was missing in their game. Villa, on the other hand, comfortably sat back and soaked up the pressure, and planned to hit their opponents on the break. The pattern of possession without penetration continued till midway through the first-half. Then, completely out of the blue, Villa found themselves a goal ahead. Gaining possession on the left edge of their own box in another of Chelsea’s slow build ups, a Villa defender played the ball forward quickly, and at the blink of an eye, Benteke was up against the last man, Cahill. Having squared him up, he got past Cahill with a brilliant turn and burst of pace, and beat Cech at his near-post with a somewhat mis-kicked effort. Villa were ahead, against the run of play.

The pattern of the game changed completely as a result of the goal. Villa took control of the ball, gained momentum, and ran Chelsea ragged. Chelsea still had decent possession (but nowhere near to what they had been enjoying earlier), but looked shell-shocked. They could only muster one good chance – Mata played the ball over the Villa backline, having spotted the run of Demba Ba, but Ba’s touch made it difficult for him to get the ball past Brad Guzan’s large frame. A glorious chance had been passed up. Chelsea’s passing range soon deserted them, and this meant a continuous exchange of possession for both sides followed as a result of misplaced passes. By now, a few cynical fouls had crept into the match. Ramires was booked for a late challenge in the center of the park. Later, Christian Benteke got into the act too, earning himself a booking (it could so easily have been red) for elbowing Cesar Azpilicueta while engaging in a battle for a header on the left hand side. Another crucial moment was witnessed when John Terry, seemingly looking like the last man, fouled Benteke on the turn. The crowd egged the referee on to bring out his red card, but it was only a yellow. Gary Cahill had been tracking back, and was in line with Terry and Benteke when the foul was committed. Cahill could have come across for cover had Benteke beaten Terry. This thoughtful play by Cahill probably saved his captain a straight red.

Another aspect to note here was the high line of defense which Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez was employing. For quite a good period of the first half, he employed a AVB-like defensive line – Terry and Cahill were starting the build up quite faraway from Cech, and at one point of time, even found themselves on the halfway line! Rafa identified it and corrected it later, because this strategy was looking extremely risky. Villa were pressing hard and not giving Chelsea’s central midfield any time on the ball. Also, considering the pace amidst their ranks, it would have been very difficult for the center backs to track back or at least check the run of a breaking player, in case Villa broke quickly. Another goal for Villa on the break would have surely put the game to bed. Credit to Rafa here for abandoning the high line.

Chelsea soldiered on towards half-time, and they desperately needed a break. Aston Villa were running the game and had quite a swagger about them – a classic end of season relegation candidate’s escape mentality. Even a player like Ramires (one of Chelsea’s quickest players) was being outpaced by their central midfielders. However, just a couple of minutes before half-time, Ramires lost relevance in the game by earning himself a second yellow card for a high footed challenge. The challenge was a bit late as Ramires was confounded by the odd bounce of the ball amidst a small crowd of players and the sudden appearance of an opposing player in the path of his raised boot. This contributed to the tackle being mistimed. The referee had no other alternative but to dismiss him. Even if he hadn’t been booked early on, that challenge would have ended his game anyway, because it was worthy of a straight red. It wasn’t intentional, it was simply a mistimed and dangerous high foot (almost at chest level). Chelsea hung on, and looked relieved to go into the interval only a goal down.

Chelsea needed to arrest Villa’s momentum and get some of their own. David Luiz was brought on for Victor Moses, who had been quite anonymous so far. Rafa’s formation was now a 4-2-2-1, with Lampard and Luiz in the double pivot, and the pair of Hazard and Mata just behind the striker (Ba). The aim was to make use of quality over quantity, considering Luiz’s ability to pick a glorious pass out of nowhere. Chelsea were gradually coming back into it, and were handed a lifeline on the hour mark. Christian Benteke, who had been booked earlier, kicked John Terry in the chest after the latter got the better of him while competing for a header from a Cech goal kick. The challenge was strikingly similar to Ramires’ challenge which contributed to his sending-off. In order to maintain consistency in his decisions, Lee Mason had no choice but to send Benteke off as well. Again, the decision was correct.

Moments after the restart, it was all square again. Azpilicueta and Hazard worked brilliantly to keep the ball in play on the wide right-hand side, and Hazard gradually picked his way into the box. Hazard had been playing looping crosses into the box from the left all day, but this time, driving in from the right, he chose the simple pass into the feet of the incoming Frank Lampard. Lampard took a couple of touches, and set himself up to score brilliantly off his left foot into the near-top corner. He was now level with Bobby Tambling, in a rather un-Lampard-esque fashion.

The goal woke up Villa from their disappointment of having to play without their leading goalscorer. The match soon assumed an end-to-end pattern as possession swung to and fro, with neither side being able to get a foothold. Soon, the main talking point of the match arrived. A Chelsea corner from the left was partly dealt with. Gary Cahill found himself chesting the ball down at the edge of the box. His touch was a bit heavy, but he go to it in the end to release his shot. The ball took a deflection off the arm of Baker about three yards from the goal-line. This contributed significantly towards changing the path of the ball. It was heading into the bottom corner. The deflection meant that two Villa defenders had to clear it off the line. By then, the ball assumed a strange spinning rotation and started to spin back in, and an extremely minute touch from an onrushing Demba Ba looked to have just nudged it past the goal line. It was impossible to tell accurately during the heat of the moment, and hence, the referee took the safe option of not giving the goal as neither he nor his assistants were absolutely sure whether the ball had crossed the line or not. It was hard to tell even after multiple angles of television replays. One would have to feel sorry for the ref thinking what may have been going through his mind during those crucial moments. However, that drama may never have been significant had Baker’s handball in the box been spotted and punished appropriately.

John Terry injured his ankle in the ensuing clearance after Ba’s intervention in the goal line melee, and play was halted for about three minutes. The halt of play (which resulted in Ivanovic coming on for Terry) made sure Villa lost whatever little momentum they had won back. The game was heading into a tense and entertaining finish, and about a minute from the end of normal time, Chelsea took the lead, Frank Lampard scoring yet again. This time, it was a trademark Frank Lampard finish. Ashley Cole got the better of Eric Lichaj on the left, drove into space into the box and picked out Frank Lampard’s run with a low cross to tap home. A typical Lampard goal – as he timed and paced his run into the box perfectly. Bobby Tambling’s record was broken at last! How fitting it was! It had to be him – rescuing the game and scoring the all-important goal in the same manner as he has been doing all these years.

Having made all their substitutions, Chelsea were left with only nine men on the pitch going into injury time. Eden Hazard skipped past his man brilliantly, beat him for pace and got to the byline. Unfortunately, he pulled his hamstring and had to go off, and Chelsea will now be sweating on his fitness for the Europa League final next week.

Seven minutes were added on for Villa to snatch a point. Now, where that many number of minutes came from is hard to justify. Chelsea would have perhaps remembered the events at Anfield a few weeks earlier (six minutes were inexplicably added then), when Luis Suarez had nicked an equalizer with virtually the last kick of the game. There was to be no repeat of that here. Chelsea parked the bus again (even Fernando Torres was in the box defending), and Villa threw as many men forward as possible. Westwood tested Cech with a well-hit volley from outside the box but Cech was up to it. The defense held firm, repelled a wave of further Villa attacks and coasted to a very crucial win.

Neither team deserved to lose, but ultimately Chelsea’s quality saw them through. The win almost assures them qualification for next season’s Champions League. It will now take a heavy defeat on the final day and an avalanche of goals for Spurs in their next two games if Chelsea are to miss out. Rafa has almost got the job done.

Man of the Match: Frank Lampard – delivered when it mattered

Result: Aston Villa 1 – 2 Chelsea

[Points table: Chelsea on 72 pts with one game to play; Arsenal on 67 pts and Spurs on 66 pts, both with two games to play]