Week 13 Match Review: Chelsea 3 - Aston Villa 0

Well, that was easy. In a game where just about everything went right – outside of Nicolas Jackson almost picking up a second goal in what would’ve been Emi Martinez’s second most curious gaff of the match – the Blues came out looking properly cohesive and deep. Whatever big Enzo is up to, it’s working, and even with four games in the next two weeks, there’s hope that Chelsea aren’t just touring the top four, but will actually be in the fight for a Champions League spot for the rest of the season. Before we get into all of that, let’s look at the extremely smooth performance from this past weekend.

What Was Good

Basically Everything?

Let’s talk about that first goal. In the span of about :15 seconds, Romeo Lavía bullied his way to a header at the top of the box, briefly handing possession back to Villa before Marc Cucurella stormed through to intercept the ball, played it to Jadon Sancho before demanding the ball back down the left flank, and then passed it into Jackson for a technically perfect finish. Is this what joy feels like? Chelsea hasn’t only been good of late, they’re becoming increasingly efficient (and even a bit ruthless), which is the sign of a team that isn’t going away. As an added bonus, after the goal, the cameras caught Jackson pointing to the side of his head and nodding while looking back at his teammates before Villa kicked off play again. Remember, this is Nicolas Jackson we’re talking about, lord of shit talking and unnecessary yellows but a year ago. Just terrific stuff all around.

Little Enzo Is So Back

Sunday was the first time this season that saw Moises Caicedo, Lavía, and Enzo Fernandez all line up at the same time (Caicedo came in at right back oddly enough and actually played great). With Lavía pushing Villa’s midfield around and Caicedo handling the flank, little Enzo was able to move much deeper up the field, which is precisely how he ended up knocking in the Cole Palmer pass past his national team teammate (and potentially best keeper in the world) Martinez. The outside-of-the-foot finish itself was clinical, not dissimilar to a recent goal from Jackson, and re-announced #8 as a fixture of the squad after seeming a bit amiss or just exhausted through the first 10 games of the season. While Reece James will hopefully retake his spot as right back one of these years, watching the three midfielders all play so well was genuinely exciting and made it clear how much that stability can help with the backline and frontline output.

Cole Palmer Returns to the Scoresheet

The assist to little Enzo was good, but Cole Palmer’s goal was great. A few quick touches in the right pocket before curling the ball perfectly into the top left corner, all while falling down… I won’t say it was vintage Palmer because his career is so young, but it could be seen that way one day. While it didn’t change the course of the game, just seeing Palmer get back to playmaking was encouraging, especially with a big clash against Spurs on the horizon. Everyone knew this was going to be a transition season for Palmer as he adapts to being a marked man at all times, but goals like this – even if they’re mostly just adding insult to injury – will keep his confidence high and the engine of the offense running.

What Was Bad

A Bit of Reliance on Luck

Olly Watkins is a very good player who had a very mediocre game on Sunday. He had plenty of chances to score against Chelsea, but seemed allergic to finding the back of the net for whatever reason. While the backline didn’t play bad by any means – and was working with an albeit very good CDM at right back – the clean sheet really came down to Watkins’ faulty finishing and a few great saves from Robert Sanchez. Not every game requires a lights out defensive performance, but it would be nice to see more examples of it against top competition as the team climbs up the table from pretender to contender.

Another Injury in the Back

In a game where Caicedo was forced to play right back (even if he did ball out), it was disconcerting to see Wesley Fofana go down with a hamstring injury. Like James, Fofana has missed a ton of time during his Chelsea career to leg injuries and while it’s taken a while for him to get back up to speed, his quality has been on full display this season as he solidifies his partnership with Levi Colwill as the go-to center back pairing for the Blues. To his credit, Benoit Badiashile came in and played well, so hopefully we’ll see more of that moving forward, but still, please get healthy soon Wes.

It Didn’t Need to Be This Close

Chelsea had 17 shots on Sunday, eight of which were on target, and while 3-0 is a scoreline the team would accept any day of the week, it still felt closer than it needed to. Villa looked cooked through much of the game, to the point where Jackson was picking pockets and intercepting entry passes from out of the back and yet… just the one goal for the starting number nine. This is obviously a nitpick for an otherwise tremendous performance, but we still need to see the Blues get a quality win against a team in equally good form before we go announcing them as true title contenders. Probably for the better, but it’s safe to assume such proclamations won’t hold much weight until next season at the earliest.

What’s Next

It’s the most wonderful (and hopefully not injury-prone) time of the year. Chelsea has four games in the next two weeks, starting off with a trip to Southampton on Wednesday before paying Tottenham a visit on Sunday. Four points would be good, but six would really show some progress. Maybe we’ll even get a Filip Jorgensen appearance? Crazier things have happened on the south coast.