Chelsea player ratings vs Aston Villa: One defender among few positives in home defeat
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Chelsea suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday, as they dropped down to fifth in the Premier League table.
Similar to the previous game at St. James' Park, it was a game of two halves, but this time, Chelsea were on the losing end.
It looked very promising for the hosts in the first half at Stamford Bridge. They took the lead in the 37th minute from Reece James' corner kick.
It was Chelsea's 11th set-piece goal of the season, the joint second-highest in the league.
Chelsea created a lot of chances in the first period, and they paid the price for failing to capitalise on them.
Unai Emery's triple substitutions just before the hour mark proved effective, especially the introduction of striker Ollie Watkins.
It took the England international just a couple of minutes to level the score from close range after receiving a beautiful vertical pass from Morgan Rogers.
After limiting the visitors to zero shot attempts, Chelsea struggled to contain the inspired Villa side in the second half.
In the 84th minute, Villa paid Chelsea back with their own corner-kick goal, and it was Watkins again who delivered the blow.
Chelsea made a late push in the game, but did not manage to register any shots on target in the second half.
The defeat means third-placed Villa have widened the gap to Chelsea, who dropped down to fifth, to 10 points.
Depending on the result between Sunderland and Leeds United on Sunday, Chelsea could be sixth when they host Bournemouth for another Premier League bout on Tuesday.
Here are the Chelsea player ratings, according to SofaScore:
Starting XI
Robert Sanchez: 7.6
Reece James: 8.2
Trevoh Chalobah: 6.3
Benoit Badiashile: 6.4
Marc Cucurella: 6.9
Moises Caicedo: 7.1
Enzo Fernandez: 7.4
Pedro Neto: 6.5
Cole Palmer: 6.7
Alejandro Garnacho: 6.9
Joao Pedro: 7.4
Substitutes
Malo Gusto: 6.7
Jamie Gittens: 6.8
Liam Delap: 6.4
Estevao: 6.4
Gerry Crisandy is a freelance writer who has covered Chelsea for many years. His work has been published on The Chelsea Chronicle and Pride of London. He grew up idolising Michael Ballack and is a firm believer in expected goals.