Chelsea’s poor start to the Premier League season continued as Ollie Watkins’ fine strike saw Aston Villa to a 1-0 win against 10-player Blues at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
It is the first time Villa have beaten Chelsea in back-to-back league games in 30 years, while Mauricio Pochettino’s side have made their worst start to a top-flight season after the opening six games since 1978/79.
Chelsea had their chances to score, with Emiliano Martinez making a string of fine saves, but were once again unable to find the net. They have now failed to score in their last three Premier League matches.
Aston Villa too had a raft of chances, but eventually made one count when Watkins in the 73rd minute fired home on the tightest of angles after a fine break with Moussa Diaby.
It came 15 minutes after Malo Gusto was shown a straight red card. It was initially a yellow after a crunching challenge on Lucas Digne but was upgraded by referee Jarred Gillett after he consulted the pitchside monitor.
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The result sees Chelsea languishing in 14th place with just five points this season.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, showed no signs of fatigue from their midweek return to European football and moved into sixth, just two points off the top four.
Brighton visit Chelsea in the Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday before the Blues return to Premier League action on Monday, October 2, with the West London derby at Fulham.
Aston Villa host Everton in the Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday before Brighton are the visitors to Villa Park next Saturday in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, Liverpool moved into second in the Premier League with a 3-1 win over West Ham, while Brighton climbed up to third after beating Bournemouth 3-1.
Mohamed Salah opened the scoring from the penalty spot after he was upended in the box by Nayef Aguerd.
West Ham’s only previous defeat this season came at home to City last weekend and they bounced back to fully merit their equaliser before half-time when Jarrod Bowen’s diving header found the far corner.
However, the Hammers were undone by a moment of magic when Alexis Mac Allister’s inch-perfect chip picked out Darwin Nunez, who volleyed into the far corner.
Diogo Jota then came off the bench to make it 3-1 five minutes from time.
Brighton, however, took advantage of dropped points by Arsenal and Tottenham to move up to third after coming from behind to beat Bournemouth 3-1.
Dominic Solanke fired Bournemouth in front after a glaring error from Brighton’s keeper, Bart Verbruggen.
Milos Kerkez’s own goal brought Brighton level in first-half stoppage time, but that did not stop De Zerbi sending on Kaoru Mitoma at the break.
The Japanese winger took just 16 seconds to put Brighton in front with a precise finish and Mitoma made sure of the points when he headed home Pervis Estupinan’s cross 14 minutes from time.
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