The sign on the back row of the Stamford Bridge press box shows a picture of a man sitting down with a red line drawn through him. ‘Back Row Seating is Prohibited,’ the sign says. Two minutes before kick-off, Enzo Maresca took his seat there.
For the next 90 minutes, Maresca went through agonies in that seat as an Aston Villa side that is the irresistible force of the Premier League executed a classic rope-a-dope on his Chelsea team and moved right back into the heart of the title race with Arsenal and Manchester City.
After being totally outclassed by Chelsea in the opening 45 minutes, a second half triple substitution by Villa boss Unai Emery changed the game. One of his new players, Ollie Watkins, hit an equaliser four minutes after coming on and then grabbed the winner with a magnificent header six minutes from the end.
It was Villa’s 11th consecutive victory in all competitions, equalling a club record that goes back to 1914, and their eighth successive league win. They are a team that never knows when they are beaten and they will go to the Emirates next week believing that they can win.
Maresca, serving a touchline ban, spent much of the second half with his head in his hands in the press box as Villa stormed to a 2-1 win that left Chelsea ten points adrift of them and out of the Champions League places. There were already rumours that Maresca’s position at Chelsea is under threat. This defeat will heap the pressure upon him.
Two minutes into the second half, Maresca left his seat and came to stare over my shoulder. Not to look at the match report on my lap-top, but to stare forlornly at the images on the small television next to it.
Ollie Watkins came off the bench to score twice and earn Aston Villa a 2-1 win at Chelsea
Watkins headed home from a corner six minutes from time as Villa claimed their 11th straight victory
They showed a replay of a curling Chelsea cross from the left landing on the outstretched arm of Villa defender Ian Maatsen as Pedro Neto lurked. The referee had waved Chelsea’s wild appeals away. ‘Hey,’ Maresca shouted towards the referee, without any real hope, ‘handball.’
But Stuart Attwell couldn’t hear and after a first half when Chelsea should have put the game out of sight – Villa did not muster a single shot on target – they paid the price for their profligacy after the interval when Villa played like a different team.
The match had been billed as a battle between the two number 10s, Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers. Palmer was already exerting his influence in the second minute. He took down a lovely flicked pass from Moises Caicedo on the edge of the Villa box, turned and lashed his left-foot shot across Emi Martinez but wide of his left-hand post.
A minute later, it was Rogers’ chance to test his opponents. He ran at Benoit Badiashile as the Chelsea defender backtracked but when Rogers tried to take the ball around him to find space to shoot, Badiashile was his equal and dispossessed him with a neat tackle.
It soon became clear that Chelsea were intent on trying to rattle Rogers out of his stride. Marc Cucurella had a sly dig at him off the ball and when that went unpunished, he left his foot in on Rogers. Rogers shoved him in the chest and Cucurella fell theatrically. This time, Rogers went unpunished.
Next, it was Palmer’s turn. He made a diagonal run across the face of the area, before laying a short ball wide to Alejandro Garnacho. Garnacho played a clever first-time ball back to Enzo Fernandez, who set himself, but curled his shot just wide. A row behind me in the press box, Maresca booted a railing in frustration.
Chelsea dominated the play. Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez were controlling midfield and Alejandro Garnacho was causing problem after problem for Matty Cash on the Chelsea left. Villa were clinging on but it was only a matter of time until Chelsea made their superiority pay.
It happened nine minutes before the interval when James floated a corner to the near post. Martinez was so busy trying to pull and push Chelsea blockers out of his way that he was barely in position when the ball evaded the melee of bodies in the box, hit Joao Pedro and bounced straight into the goal.
Enzo Maresca was forced to watch from the stands because of a touchline ban
Joao Pedro scored the opener as a Reece James corner hit the forward and went over the line
Watkins, a second-half substitute, netted a fortuitous equaliser to bring the visitors level
Chelsea nearly doubled their lead seven minutes after the break. Robert Sanchez set up Palmer for a lightning counter-attack with a quick throw, Palmer played a lovely one-two and slid the ball across the face of goal for Garnacho to tap it in. As Garnacho pulled back his right foot to apply the coup de grace, John McGinn slid in to put the ball into touch.
Having been utterly overwhelmed until now, Villa gradually began to gain a foothold in the game. After Unai Emery made a triple substitution, bringing on Watkins, Jadon Sancho and Amadou Onana, Villa seemed energised and Chelsea began to tire.
When Boubacar Kamara ran on to a through-ball, Sanchez was out fast to make a brave, brilliant save at his feet but a few minutes later, when Rogers played Watkins in with a slide-rule pass, the goalkeeper was foiled.
Sanchez dived at Watkins’ feet again and, again, he blocked the shot bravely. But this time, luck was not on his side. The ball rebounded off Watkins’ shin and fizzed into the net. The Villa fans in the Shed End went berserk. Maresca sat back in his seat, powerless.
Now, it was all Villa. It felt as if they suckered Chelsea in with their own version of the rope-a-dope. Suddenly, they were irresistible. Another counter-attack ended with Maatsen hammering a shot at Sanchez as hard as he could. Sanchez beat it away, partly in self-preservation.
Chelsea recovered their poise but Villa still had the momentum. Palmer was substituted and looked furious. He spent the rest of the evening buried deep in his coat. That might have been one time Maresca was grateful to be in his seat further back in the press box.
Palmer’s displeasure may have been partly down to the fact that he lost his duel with Rogers. Palmer faded but Rogers got stronger and stronger as the game wore on. He had the last laugh over Cucurella and the Chelsea supporters who taunted him about being a poor man’s Palmer.
Six minutes from the end, Youri Tielemans swung over a corner from the Villa right, Watkins rose majestically ten yards out and directed a towering header into the corner, beyond the despairing reach of the right hand of Sanchez.
Maresca sat with his head in his hands as the Villa section celebrated and Emery cavorted along the touchline in front of him. ‘We’re going to win the league,’ the Villa fans sang. ‘We’re going to win the league.’
Villa go to Arsenal next week. They are right in the middle of this title race now. Maresca and his team are not.
