Aston Villa wallop Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea, on Saturday, lost 0-2 to Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge, dropping to 11th position on the Premier League table.

The defeat saw Chelsea manager, Graham Potter, receive chants of “you don’t know what your doing” from his own team’s fans.

Villa went in front when Ollie Watkins took advantage of Marc Cucurella’s poor defending to lob Kepa Arrizabalaga in the 18th minute, but the visitors were indebted to goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who pulled off a string of superb saves to keep his side ahead.

The Argentine World Cup winner made two smart one-on-one stops to deny Mykhailo Mudryk, as well as Kai Havertz on several occasions.

Chelsea saw a Ben Chilwell header ruled out for a push by the full-back on Ashley Young before half-time.

The Blues, however, received a sucker punch after the interval as John McGinn’s long-range stunner from distance found the bottom corner.

The result moved Chelsea down to 11th in the table – 11 points off fourth and nine behind fifth-placed Newcastle having played two games more.

Aston Villa, however, climbed to ninth with defeats for Liverpool and Fulham earlier on Saturday, as well as Brighton and Brentford’s draw, meaning Unai Emery’s side are now just two points off sixth.

Chelsea have lost and failed to score in four Premier League home games this season; their joint-most such defeats in a single campaign, alongside 1994-95 and 2019-20.

The Saturday win was Villa’s first win at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League in over a decade, since a 3-1 win on New Year’s Eve in 2011.

Their 2-0 victory also saw them keep their first clean sheet away to Chelsea in the competition since March 1998 (1-0 under John Gregory).

Chelsea had 27 shots without scoring against Aston Villa, their most attempts in a Premier League match without finding the net since January 2014 against West Ham (39 shots, 0 goals).

The Star