English Premier League Saturday: Aston Villa And Chelsea Go To Half Scoreless

Aston Villa been the equal of the league leaders, going to half time deservedly drawn with a Chelsea side that has yet to find its rhythm.

A strong half defensively from Stewart Downing, Nigel Reo-Coker and James Collins has contributed to Chelsea’s problems, though the absences of Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard as well as potential replacements Salomon Kalou and Yossi Benayoun has a bite-less Chelsea searching for options.

At the other end of the pitch, Aston Villa has been able to create chances for Stephen Ireland, augmenting multiple corner kick chances on which Villa was able put strong if fruitless headers toward net.

Chelsea will have an avenue to goal as the come out of half time, as defender Ciaran Clark, who replaced Richard Dunne 13 minutes into the match, has looked shaky. Minutes before half, Chelsea attack Gael Kakuta was able to tread a dangerous through ball between Clark and Collins, though Nicolas Anelka was unable to run onto the pass.

Chelsea came into today’s match with a chance to go seven points clear of Manchester City, while a Aston Villa win would vault the home team into sixth place.