Dave Woodhall is at Villa Park to see Villa beat Chelsea.
I hate 5.30 kick-offs.It always seems that they’re played purely for the TV audience, to fill the gap between Sky Super Duper Soccer Saturday Afternoon and whatever Saturday night might bring. And after I’ve been to the match the last thing I want do do is watch another one. But the one advantage they bring is that you can see what everyone else did in the earlier games and sometimes that can be a bit of a boost. Which is what happened before Villa kicked off against Chelsea.
The team that Unai picked to make up ground on the teams ahead of Villa was fairly predictable, with Ezri Konsa partnering Tyrone Mings in the danger zone and Marco Asensio playing behind Ollie Watkins.
from the off Villa seemed a bit disjointed, Chelsea were on top and it was no real surprise that they took an early lead from a quickly-worked move. To Villa’s credit they upped their game after the goal and had most of the possession although they were unable to create many chances with the final ball lacking and Chelsea closing down any danger.
Half-time came and there was a bit of talk about what Unai could do to turn things round. What he did was the expected, bringing Marcus Rashford on to replace Jacob Ramsey, who was unlucky to go off but needs must.
I’ve often said that what Villa have lacked is an “Oh shit, not him” player to come on when the opposition think they’ve coped with everything that’s been thrown at them, then someone even better arrives. Marcus Rashford fits the bill perfectly. I wasn’t in my usual seat and my view at the Holte end of Witton Lane was perfect to not only watch Rashford on the ball but also see the effect that he has on the opposition.
He was constantly being double marked but was still able to beat his men and get the ball over. There was also space available for the rest of the Villa attack and Chelsea were beginning to struggle. Eventually a deep cross was pulled back by Rashford and Asensio bundled the ball over the line. It was immediately disallowed but….
There didn’t seem much hope that VAR would overrule the officials, but the longer the discussions went on, the more chance that something might happen and so it was that Villa got a deserved equaliser. It was no surprise that Tyrone Mings, who had been struggling for much of the game, was replaced by Lamare Bogarde and the latest prospect from the Bodymoor Heath conveyor belt showed that he’s destined to be more than a PSR sacrifice.
Leon Bailey came on to provide more unpredictability and might have made a bigger difference had he been willing to shoot rather than try to beat another player. Then with a minute to go a corner was hit by Rashford to Asensio, whose shot should have been a straightforward save but it’s about time we had a bit of luck.
Three points, signs that we’re building a bit of momentum and the emergence of top-class players we should be doing everything to keep. The rest of the season suddenly looks promising.
