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Aston Villa continue their remarkable winning streak Ollie Watkins He came on as a substitute in the second half and scored twice to help Chelsea win 2-1. Stamford Bridge.
At half-time Unai Emery’s side looked to have their ambitions of staying in the Premier League title race fading with Joao Pedro’s goal Rhys James The corner gave the home side the lead against an out-of-form Villa side.
They looked nothing like a team on their 11th consecutive win in all competitions, with Chelsea rarely appearing before the break, trapping them in their own half.
Then in the 59th minute, Emery summoned Watkins – a surprising omission from the start – and everything changed. Moments later he leveled from Morgan Rogers’ through ball and seven minutes later he rose to head Youri Tielemans’ header into the corner to close the gap between Villa and leaders Arsenal to three points.
Chelsea have rarely been as dominant at home this season as they were in the first half.
Four minutes later Cole Palmer cleverly collected the ball on the turn and shot just wide. There are also powerful operations England The striker passed the ball to Enzo Fernandez, who curled the ball over the post.
Chelsea’s chances kept coming as Pedro latched onto Pedro Neto’s cross but it was blocked from close range by Emiliano Martinez. The striker went down when faced with a challenge from Victor Lindelof and looked to be awarded a penalty, but referee Stuart Atwell was unmoved.
Chelsea’s lead was well deserved, but there was also a lot of luck in their goalscoring. James’ corner was dangerous and seemed to confuse both sets of players when it landed inside the six-yard box. Several people tried, but only Pedro was able to transfer the ball to the baseline with the most deft contact.
Villa suffered another penalty scare at the start of the second half when Ian Maatsen appeared to handle a cross that drifted towards Neto at the far post, before John McGinn’s brilliant sliding interception denied Alejandro Garnacho an equalizer after Chelsea’s brisk counterattack.
Martinez’s brilliant one-handed effort parried James’ shot as he tried to tap the Villa keeper with a deft finish.
Emery made three substitutions within an hour – with Watkins, Jadon Sancho and Amadou Onana all coming on – before Villa opened up their first opening, with Watkins passing the ball to Boubacar Kamara, whose path was blocked by a suffocating block from Roberto Sanchez.
This stirred up some emotions in the visitor, which calmed down after a minute. Rodgers’ pass through the middle was very accurate, setting up a pass for Watkins. He blocked Trevor Chalobah and his shot hit Sanchez’s legs, but luckily the ball bounced off him and the goal came.
Suddenly Villa had the advantage and Mattson struck the ball into the palm of Sanchez’s hand at the near post before Watkins dug in a shot that the Chelsea keeper found.
A draw might have been fair, but Watkins had other ideas and his late header sparked wild scenes among the visiting fans at Shed End.