Gabby Agbonlahor rages at ‘big time Charlies’ Chelsea in FA Cup win at Aston Villa
Chelsea’s enraged Gabby Agbonlahor after they took a shock 3-0 lead on the way to knocking Aston Villa out of the FA Cup, as he branded them “embarrassing”.
Enzo Fernandez’s 25-yard free kick flew into the top corner in the 54th minute before he removed his shirt in exuberant celebrations with his teammates, as the visitors went into an unassailable lead on 7 February.
Substitute Moussa Diaby’s late consolation was all Unai Emery’s surprisingly slack Villa side could muster in response as they suffered an unexpected defeat at home to go out of the cup 3-1 at home.
Despite a bright start the Spaniard’s players almost all underperformed hugely in a first half that saw Chelsea take a quick-fire 2-0 lead through Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson, as errors from the likes of Boubacar Kamara, Diego Carlos and Alex Moreno contributed to the Villans’ downfall.
Ollie Watkins was arguably the only Aston Villa player who looked even slightly like he had in a sparkling 5-0 demolition of Sheffield United just four days earlier (3 February).
While most of the Villa side upped their game slightly after hearing from Emery at the break midfielder Youri Tielemans’ performance went the opposite direction.
And it was the Belgian was the man who conceded the free kick from which Fernandez stepped up to beat his international teammate Emi Martinez, with the one foul he committed in the game punished to give the £106.8million man the opportunity to celebrate and infuriate Agbonlahor.
The talkSPORT pundit reacted via Twitter: “One quick one before I sleep! Chelsea are 11th and 15th points behind Villa! But are celebrating like they have won the league? Embarrassing bunch of inconsistent big time Charlies.”
It was the huge gap in the two side’s league positions, and recent form, which made the cup tie all the more confusing, with Villa riding high after destroying Chris Wilder’s side at the weekend while Mauricio Pochettino was facing questions about his job after losing 4-2 at home to Wolves.
Aston Villa’s players only have themselves to blame, as the likes of Douglas Luiz, so impressive at Bramall Lane, also badly underperformed.
Tielemans himself may have been penalised for a light contact in fouling Fernandez prior to the third goal, but he and his teammates should never have given an under-pressure Chelsea side the chance to celebrate so heavily, apparently in response to suggestions the Argentine’s commitment to the club is wavering [Telegraph, 7 February].
The Belgian’s Villa midfielder’s performance was pretty miserable, and emblematic of the malaise throughout the XI on the night, as according to SofaScore his 71 minutes on the pitch saw him make just 20 passes, and completed only 12 (60%).
His 25 total touches in midfield were alarmingly low, while he failed with his only attempted dribble (0%), lost half of his four ground duels (50%) and gave up possession 10 times.
The former Leicester star was far from the worst performer before the break as Carlos and Moreno had particular nightmares, but he looked it after the restart, and he didn’t attempt a single shot, cross, or long ball throughout the match, with the sum total of his positive contributions an early key pass, and one tackle and interception each and his primary involvement giving away the free kick which was scored.
Any side can have an off day and Emery will have to ensure this was just that, because Tielemans and company failed to turn up against a Chelsea side they have hugely outperformed this season.
It seems hard to believe that the notoriously meticulous Villa boss would have underestimated any opponent, but the team’s performance gave the impression of complacency when coming off a near-perfect win, playing a struggling opponent, at Villa Park where the form has been so good this term.
In other Aston Villa news, Fabrizio Romano has issued a contract update on a previously-in-form star.
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