Chelsea 3-0 Aston Villa, Premier League: Post-match reaction

Aston Villa came to play to Stamford Bridge today, and they certainly followed through on those intentions, matching Chelsea beat for beat, especially in the first half, where they probably had the better of play and chances, even. But Éduard Mendy made a string of key saves, Thiago Silva made countless crucial blocks, and Chelsea were able to keep our sheet clean.

At the other end, Romelu Lukaku made our one and only clear cut chance in first 45 count, though Chelsea also hit the crossbar after Rüdiger diverted a corner towards goal only to see it cleared off the line by Ezri Konsa.

Fortunately, Chelsea were also next the scoresheet, soon after the restart, thanks to a poor backpass under pressure from Tyrone Mings, which Mateo Kovačić took advantage of with a stellar finish. You’d never think it was just his 3rd goal in nearly 150 Chelsea appearances!

It was a lot more comfortable after that for the Blues, and while we had multiple shaky moments at the back throughout the game, we’d hang on to the clean sheet and the three points. Lukaku would make it absolutely certain with another goal in stoppage time. 3-0! Great for the goal difference.

Carefree.

• Plenty of changes from Tuchel after the late return of several players from international duty, including a debut for Saúl and a first PL start of the season for Hudson-Odoi.
• Marcos Alonso, captain
• Saúl clearly not quite up to Premier League speed yet; Jorginho on for him at half-time
• Need to speed up that Kanté cloning program
• Romelu Lukaku’s first goal at Stamford Bridge! And also his second!
• Mateo Kovačić’s first goal at Stamford Bridge as well! Kova also with the glorious assist for Lukaku’s goal.
• 100th senior Chelsea appearance for Hudson-Odoi! He even got to play up front for a bit after Azpi came on for Havertz just past the hour-mark.
• Another clean sheet, though not without shaky moments, especially on corners and set pieces. Mendy with 7 saves.
• Next up: Zenit at home on Tuesday in the first game of the Champions League group stage
• KTBFFH

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