Chelsea missed the chance to move into the top four after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa in the Premier League.
The game didn’t start well for the Blues as Trevoh Chalobah was forced off inside the opening 10 minutes. Following a tangle with Marco Asensio, the defender was left holding his lower back and, after receiving treatment, had to be replaced by Tosin Adarabioyo
Though, moments after the injury blow, Chelsea broke the deadlock. Enzo Fernandez may have got the goal, but he owed a lot to Pedro Neto.
The winger superbly down the right before picking out his teammate in the middle and Fernandez made no mistake to slot the ball home from close range to mark his third goal in as many appearances against Villa.
Shell-shocked by Chelsea’s fast start, Unai Emery’s side grew into the game as the first-half wore on with Ollie Watkins going close to getting an equaliser. With that said, the visitors did have chances to extend their lead as Cole Palmer saw an effort deflected just wide for a corner.
Emery turned to the on-loan Marcus Rashford at the interval and the January signing made an instant impact. Timing his run before cutting the ball back for Marco Asensio to score the equaliser.
The goal, however, was initially ruled out for offside, but was allowed to stand following a VAR review as Rashford was clearly in an onside position when Matty Cash delivered the cross.
After Palmer had an effort cleared off the line by Ezri Konsa, Chelsea turned to their own Manchester United loanee in Jadon Sancho in search of a winner but were perhaps fortunate to not concede a penalty when Marc Cucurella took a risk as he appeared to haul Lamare Bogarde to the floor in the area.
The incident was checked and cleared by VAR, though it didn’t matter much a few minutes later.
Filip Jorgensen went from hero to zero in a matter of seconds as after making a decent stop to deny Donyell Malen, he somehow allowed Asensio’s rather weak effort to squirm underneath his body and into the back of the net.
Interestingly, the Spaniard’s second goal of the game was also created by Rashford as the Real Madrid and Man United loanees combined to inflict a third straight defeat on Chelsea.
