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Frank Lampard’s side have won just one of their last five Premier League games.
December 28, 2020, 9:25 PM
One of the matches of the opening day of the sixteenth day of the English Premier League has already been interrupted as a result of the harmful effects of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Fortunately for fans of London’s Chelsea and Birmingham’s Aston Villa, their favorite teams avoided the disease, so nothing stopped the showdown from taking place at Stamford Bridge. But this match promised to be quite interesting, because it was a clash between teams located on the edge of the potential European cup zone.
But the vectors of motion of the Frank Lampard and Dean Smith collectives were completely opposite. In mid-December, the Blues began a rapid decline from the leading positions in the championship race, and for the Lions, by contrast, this period turned out to be quite successful: four unbeaten matches against the only win on the Los Angeles’ tally. opponents in the same period. The height of the failure of the “retired” is the collapse of the field of Emirates in the derby against Arsenal (1: 3), for which it would be good to rehabilitate before the fans in a home game.
Unlike the rivals’ mentor, Smith made no adjustments, except for the forced replacement of Tyrone Mings, disqualified by red card, in his team’s starting eleven. But Lampard did not forgive any of those he criticized after the Arsenal game. But even with “fresh” legs, Chelsea were not confident at the start of the match due to heavy pressure from opponents. And the hosts lost the right to the first real threat of goal: Mendy stopped Grilish’s attempt to twist the ball under the second post with a strike from the left flank of the penalty area.
This episode encouraged the “pensioners” well, after which they responded with an equally dangerous miss of an advantageous situation from Pulisic, to whom Grilish himself presented the ball in his half of the field. Christine was one of the most outstanding players on the field, but the team scored a goal without her direct involvement. From the left flank of the penalty area to the near corner of goalkeeper Chilwell entered, and Giroud, in another spectacular knockdown, completed his teammate’s transfer with his head under the near post.
Along with the advantage on the scoreboard, the ‘blues’ gained confidence in passing, which they managed to maintain until the start of the second half. However, an accidental episode completely knocked the ground under the feet of Lampard’s footballers. The opponents did not hit the ball after a hard cross between Grilish and Christensen occurred on the right flank of the Chelsea defense, following which Jack launched one more offense, which finally ended with a service from Cash’s right flank to the second post, where El-Ghazi was completely free. … As you may have guessed, the Dane was not in this situation.
There was sporting anger between the hosts after this episode, so we saw more of them with the ball in the other half of the field for the rest of the match. However, they only managed to squeeze the ball scored outside the band, when, in the 66th minute, Azpilicueta from the goalkeeper’s limits completed the jump of the ball that bounces inside the possessions of others. Aston Villa didn’t miss either: After two minutes, McGinn hit the crossbar to Mendy’s left with a long-range shot.
The episode is rare enough to attack guests, but it is not the only dangerous one. Chelsea were regularly under threat of missing a counterattack, so at the end of the match they did not appear aggressive enough. A draw is a natural result, because Lampard’s team clearly lacked some leadership during the meeting.
In the next round, Chelsea from London will play a home game against Manchester City, while Aston Villa from Birmingham will visit Manchester United.
Chelsea 1: 1 Aston Villa
Goals: Fat, 34 – El Ghazi, 50.
Chelsea: Mandy – Aspilicueta, Christensen, Rüdiger, Chillwell – Kante, Georgino (Haverz, 72), Mount – Pulisic, Giroud (Werner, 72), Hudson-Odoi.
Aston Villa: Martinez – Cash, House, Conce, Target – Douglas Louis, McGinn – Traore (Davis, 87), Grilish, El Gazi (Ramsey, 82) – Watkins.
Ads: Azpilicueta, Giroud, Kante – El Ghazi
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