Aston Villa’s remarkable winning run continued as Ollie Watkins came off the bench in the second half to score twice and earn a valuable 2-1 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
At half-time Unai Emery’s side looked like their ambitions of staying in the Premier League title race were slipping away, Joao Pedro’s finish from a Reece James corner giving the hosts the lead against a Villa side hopelessly out of sorts.
They had looked nothing like a team going for an 11th win in a row in all competitions, Chelsea harrying and pressing and pinning them in their own half from where they rarely emerged before the break.
Then in the 59th minute, Emery summoned Watkins – a surprise omission from the start – and everything changed. Within moments he had equalised from Morgan Rogers’ through-ball, then seven minutes from time he rose to nod Youri Tielemans’ header into the corner to keep Villa within three points of leaders Arsenal.
Rarely this season have Chelsea so dominated at home as they did in the first half.
After four minutes, Cole Palmer took the ball down masterfully on the turn and lifted a shot fractionally wide. There was also a powerful run by the England forward which allowed the ball to break to Enzo Fernandez who curled beyond the post.
Pedro got his foot to Pedro Neto’s cross but was denied at close range by Emiliano Martinez as Chelsea’s chances kept coming. The striker then wanted a penalty when tumbling over the challenge of Victor Lindelof but referee Stuart Attwell was unmoved.
Chelsea’s lead was deserved but there was plenty of good fortune about their goal. James’ corner was dangerous and seemed to confuse both sets of players as it dropped inside the six-yard box. Several went for it, but only Pedro was able to make the deftest contact to divert it over the line.
Villa survived another penalty scare at the start of the second half when Ian Maatsen appeared to handle a cross as it drifted towards Neto at the far post, then a wonderful sliding interception from John McGinn kept Alejandro Garnacho from making it two after a brisk Chelsea counter.
A wonderful one-handed reach by Martinez denied James as he sought to catch the Villa goalkeeper out with a clever chip.
Emery gambled with three changes on the hour mark – Watkins, Jadon Sancho and Amadou Onana all on – and finally Villa carved out their first opening, Watkins slipping the ball through for Boubacar Kamara whose way was blocked by a smothering stop from Robert Sanchez.
It stirred something in the visitors and a minute later they were level. Rogers’ pass through the middle was beautifully calibrated to put Watkins through. He held off Trevoh Chalobah and shot against the legs of Sanchez, but fortune was on the Villa striker’s side as the ball rebounded back off him and in.
Suddenly Villa were in the ascendancy, Maatsen smacking the ball against the palms of Sanchez at the near post then Watkins dug out a shot that Chelsea’s goalkeeper got down to well.
A draw might have been fair, but Watkins had other ideas, his late header sparking rapturous scenes amongst visiting fans in the Shed End.
