Ollie Watkins the hero, as 3/10 truly useless – Aston Villa player ratings vs Chelsea
Unai Emery’s Aston Villa turned things around in dramatic fashion to beat Chelsea on Saturday.
Aston Villa beat Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in a high-stakes Premier League clash, where the Villans clinched victory from the jaws of defeat.
Unai Emery has led Villa to a terrific 10-game winning streak recently, including seven league wins in a row, which has now been extended to eight.
Chelsea took the lead through a first-half Reece James corner that took a touch from Joao Pedro, which seemed to have the Villans rocked.
However, the second-half introduction of Ollie Watkins changed everything for Emery.
Ollie Watkins was terrific off the bench
Emery decided to start with Donyell Malen up top, dropping Watkins despite the latter producing an assist in the win over Manchester United last time out.
Watkins showed his Villa boss exactly why he needs to start all the time, and finally looked back to his best versus Chelsea.
| Minutes | Goals | Shots | Rating |
| 31 | 2 | 4 | 8.6 |
As usual, Watkins was a menace in front of the goal, as his presence completely shook Chelsea’s backline.
He had a 100 per cent shot on target rate from his four attempts at Robert Sanchez off the bench, and his goals have helped Villa’s chances of winning the title.
Emi Buendia didn’t take his chance
Emi Buendia has picked up form this season after previous injury struggles, but has been on the bench in the past couple of games after failing to impress over a period without attacking returns.
Emery made a bold call to play Buendia, with the 29-year-old’s last Premier League start coming at the back end of November.
It’s fair to say that the forward was ineffective for the Villans and regularly gave the ball away during important attacking transitions.
- Buendia was hooked in the 58th minute, and looked unhappy leaving the pitch
- He completed none of his dribbles successfully
- Buendia lost seven of his total 11 duels in the game
Buendia also attempted 3 long balls in the match and recorded a 0 per cent accuracy for all of them.
The winter period brings plenty of games, which will have been in the back of Emery’s mind when choosing his starting lineup versus Chelsea.
However, the Villa boss may have learned his lesson about starting Buendia in big games, and could revert to playing Morgan Rogers on the left with Youri Tielemans in an advanced role again.
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Aston Villa player ratings vs Chelsea
Emi Martinez – 3
Matty Cash – 5
Ezri Konsa – 7
Victor Lindelof – 7
Ian Maatsen – 6
John McGinn – 7
Boubacar Kamara – 6
Youri Tielemans – 7
Emi Buendia – 3
Morgan Rogers – 6
Donyell Malen – 4
Substituites:
Lucas Digne – 6
Amadou Onana – 6
Lamare Bogarde – 5
Jadon Sancho – 5
Ollie Watkins – 9
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