Chelsea’s season took a turn for the worst when they suffered their third setback of the year, a 0-1 loss to Aston Villa at home.
The Blues failed in their previous game, a 1-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest. They returned to Stamford Bridge after a 0-0 draw away to Bournemouth last weekend.
For the visit of Villa, Moises Caicedo’s return was welcomed by Mauricio Pochettino, but this did little to aid their goal-scoring attempts as they have now gone three straight games without scoring.
In the first half, Chelsea had numerous opportunities to score, but they didn’t convert any of them, like they had in many of their previous games.
The first half unusually ended more than 60 seconds before the full three additional minutes were played, resulting in a score of 0-0 for both teams.
Chelsea was down to ten men just before the hour mark as Malo Gusto was dismissed for a challenge on Lucas Digne.
He appeared to win the ball, but a VAR check revealed that he had really followed through on his countryman, leading to his seeming dismissal.
This necessitated a tactical adjustment from Pochettino, and Mykhailo Mudryk, who appeared bright, was the one to replace Ben Chilwell.
Even though Villa took the lead, Chelsea actually had the advantage after falling down to ten men.
When Watkins was allowed to pass, Levi Colwill blocked his original shot, but his second attempt reached the bottom corner.
It drove the opposing team’s supporters into a tizzy as they took control of a game that they had been trailing for the majority of the contest.
Chelsea attempted to attack the Villa goal one more as time ran out, but to no avail. As a result, Chelsea suffered its third loss of the year.
With such a loss, they fall to 14th place in the standings, barely four points above the drop zone, and Pochettino’s reign appears to be stagnating.
At the conclusion of the game, Blues supporters could be heard in the crowd booing their team’s performance.
