Aston Villa's Anwar El Ghazi strikes to earn draw as Chelsea stutter goes on

 

On a bitter night Chelsea and Aston Villa fought out a commendably feisty draw that will leave Dean Smith the happier manager. Villa produced a compact, resilient performance and might easily have won, even if Anwar El Ghazi’s second-half goal was helped by weak defending from Andreas Christensen, who injured his foot trying to foul Jack Grealish.

For Frank Lampard a point made it four from a possible 15 over 17 days either side of Christmas. Chelsea were bitty at times and convincing at others but there was no lack of effort or fight. “The performance was good, I thought we deserved to win the game, we saw a lot of good signs in the attitude of the team,” Chelsea’s manager said.

Stamford Bridge was a striking spectacle under the cold white lights, steam billowing off the players, the shouts of the benches ringing around this tier 4 ghost ground.

For both teams this was a second game in the space of three days. Villa came to west London not just in fine form but playing a rousing style of football, able to press from the front or counterattack.

Smith resisted the urge to rotate, and talked afterwards about the need to maintain “momentum and confidence”. “They looked me in the eye and said they were ready to go again. You have to have that trust with your players and I certainly have that with mine.”

Chelsea had the means and the need to rotate this evolving team. After three defeats in four Lampard had talked about “personality” and players not working hard enough. This kind of thing might work as a screen in public but it is to be hoped in private the manager is focusing more closely on combinations, attacking rhythms, and drawing the most from a group of players assembled on the hoof.

Timo Werner, in particular, is a high spec part used to running into space from deep in a more central role. His lack of impact is not a failing of personality but a confusion of roles. Here he was rested at the start. Cesar Azpilicueta came in at right-back – “Reece James has a small hamstring issue,” Lampard said. Olivier Giroud and Callum Hudson-Odoi started in attack.

Chelsea began with some pent-up aggression. Twice in the opening minutes Grealish was jostled to the ground and left waving his hand in search of a free-kick. With 11 minutes gone Chelsea made the first real chance. Christian Pulisic picked up a misplaced Grealish pass, skittered through the right-hand channel and spanked a powerful shot just wide. Full report here