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The Blues hosted Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge in a thrilling encounter that ended 2-1 in Chelsea's favour. Towering target-man Tammy Abraham opened the scoring for the hosts 24 minutes into the game, and while Trezeguet managed to equalize for Villa, Mason Mount handed Chelsea the final goal of the game with a beautiful strike.
While the Blues sit pretty in fourth place on the table, Aston Villa continue the fight to remain just clear of the red zone. Villa will certainly rue their missed chances and their half-baked gameplay that saw them struggle to find their footing. They never really looked like winning it, and there was nothing they could do throughout the second half to negate Mount's 48th minute winner.
The Bridge erupted into pandemonium in the 24th minute when Abraham powered a header beyond the keeper and into the middle of the goal. Right-back Reece James picked out a just onside Abraham at the right moment and lifted a weighted pass to him. Chelsea's top marksman did not hesitate to open the scoring and put the Blues in the lead.
What was perhaps Aston Villa's most fashionable piece of attacking gameplay led to their only goal of the game. A number of one-touch passes took Chelsea's defence by surprise, and the ball found Ahmed El Mohamady totally unmarked on the right wing.
He had all the time in the world to send in a perfect cross to Trezeguet who, for lack of a better word, bumbled the ball into the goal with his head and knee.
Unluckily for Villa, Chelsea's best would come only seven minutes after Trezeguet's goal. Stealing the ball in the middle of the park, the hosts started a possessive attack that found Willian at the right edge of the box.
Using his quick feet and vision, the Brazilian hit a sharp cross to Abraham who flicked the ball down for an unmarked Mount. The 20-year-old then hammered an absolute piledriver beyond Tom Heaton's hand, into the roof of the goal.
Both sides would continue to eke out chances, with Chelsea looking most likely to increase their lead, but Mount's thunderous goal was to be the final one of the game.
Without further ado, let's take a look at three players who were impressive for their respective teams and two players who did not play well.
#5 Mason Mount played well for the Blues
Mason Mount was a thorn in Villa's side throughout the game. He created chances for himself from his position behind Abraham, found holes in Villa's defence, and capped his performance with an unforgettable strike in front of his fans.
While his efforts and efficiency in attack cannot be denied, Mount didn't make any key passes or create any major chances for his teammates in a game where Chelsea controlled the proceedings.
Apart from that, Mount's defensive output needs a little more work too. He was the only attacking player in the Chelsea starting XI that committed three fouls, and he received a yellow card for his troubles.
#4 Tyrone Mings didn't play well for Villa
The towering centre-back has been good this season, and is the player with the second highest number of clearances so far. However, other areas of his defensive gameplay lacked quality against Chelsea.
Tyrone Mings made only one tackle and one interception throughout the game, and he could have done more to stop Chelsea's first goal. Mings wasn't marking target-man Tammy Abraham, as he should have. Instead, he drew away from Abraham towards Christian Pulisic, who he deemed a potential threat.
Mings' drift from his mark was all Reece James needed to send a pass to an unmarked Abraham.
#3 Willian was an constant threat for Chelsea's attack
The 31-year-old has been consistent throughout the season for Chelsea, and this match was no different. He troubled the Villa defence constantly with his quick feet as he searched out final passes and quick crosses.
Playing on the right wing, Willian effectively created six chances and was very unlucky not to be on the score-sheet or assist-sheet himself. His quick thinking and vision led to Chelsea's winning goal, and while Abraham takes credit for the assist, Willian can take a lot of confidence from his scintillating performance.
He was unsurprisingly the most fouled player on the Blues side of the pitch, but Villa were unable to stop him from creating havoc in their final third.
#2 Conor Hourihane was perhaps the worst player on the field
It is never easy to call a footballer the worst player on the pitch, but Conor Hourihane played very poorly for Villa and arguably deserves the "worst player" tag.
Amongst all the midfielders on the pitch yesterday, he gave away the most passes, which is quite surprising given that he made a grand total of 17 passes throughout his entire time on the pitch. Apart from that, he had the fewest touches (27) on the ball,.even fewer than Douglas Luiz who took his place in the 57th minute.
Hourihane had fewer touches than either striker on both teams, which is a shocking stat for a centre midfielder.
This was a very bad day for Hourihane, and his substitution 57 minutes into the match was perhaps even a bit late. Hopefully, he can pick himself up after this horror outing.
#1 Tammy Abraham sparked life into Chelsea yet again
Tammy Abraham ticked every box yesterday for Chelsea. He showed his quality in the air with a headed goal early on during the game, and he set the ball up for Mason Mount's goal with a chested flick-on.
Abraham's defensive output wasn't lacking either as he made more tackles and interceptions than Villa's out-of-form midfielder Conor Hourihane.
With his performance today, Abraham has successfully boosted Chelsea's top 4 bid - just as he has been doing all season. Abraham has 11 goals and three assists in 14 appearances; he's in top form right now, and it doesn't look like the 22-year-old will slow down any time soon.
Villa's defence was unable to find a response to his threat, and he partook in both goals to give Chelsea a much-needed win.
