Diego Costa scored yet again for Chelsea to continue his torrid start to the season as the Blues dispatched Aston Villa 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. Oscar combined with Willian early in the first half to put the Blues ahead and despite a solid defensive performance by Villa, there offense couldn’t generate a real threat as Chelsea pulled away late for the win.
3 things we learned from Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa
The Blues wore down a tenacious Aston Villa side for a deserved victory at Stamford Bridge ... and yes, Diego Costa scored again.
Jamie McDonald
Chelsea's opening goal less than seven minutes into the match was pretty in its simplicity. Willian rocketed down the wing and fired a low shot in against Brad Guzan that was blocked by the Aston Villa keeper. While the save was good, the rebound was not and Willian quickly centered to Oscar who fired the ball past Guzan who couldn't recover quickly enough from the initial save.
The remainder of the first half was dominated by the Blues but Villa deserves credit for holding their own defensively and frustrating Chelsea a bit. Despite having the lion share of possession, Mourinho’s men simply couldn’t find a way through the congested final third, which was probably Paul Lambert’s plan all along.
The Blues didn’t come out with much energy in the second half as the match continued at a fairly measured pace. Aston Villa seemed less willing to attack -- not that they’d done much of it in the first half -- and Chelsea didn’t appear to have a great urgency to score a second goal, but it would come.
In the 59th minute César Azpilicueta lifted a soft cross in front of the Villa goal, right to Diego Costa who was cutting across the area with a well time run. Costa did the rest, blasting a header past Guzan to make it 2-0. Eden Hazard deserves credit as well for drawing the defense to him before delivering a quick back heel pass to Azpilicueta who was more than willing to inhabit the pocket of space created by Hazard. The cross was lovely and the finish -- Diego Costa's eighth goal in six matches -- was even better.
Chelsea came within inches of going up 3-0 in the 63rd minute after Oscar danced through the defense and got a slow roller past a sliding Guzan. It was defender Aly Cissokho who saved the day making a superb recovery and clearance off the line.
The third goal did finally arrive in the 79th minute when Guzan made an excellent save to deny Costa, but just as he did on the first goal of the day, the Villa goalkeeper couldn’t control the rebound and Willian cleaned up with a close range tap-in to secure the points for the Blues.
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Terry, Cahill, Ivanović, Fàbregas, Matic, Hazard (Schürrle 68’), Oscar (Obi Mikel 77’), Willian, Diego Costa (Rémy 81’)
Goals: Oscar (7’), Diego Costa (59’), Willian (79’)
Aston Villa: Guzan, Cissokho, Baker, Senderos, Hutton, Westwood, Delph, Cleverley, RIchardson (Bent 69’), Agbonlahor, Weimann (N’Zogbia 69’)
Goals: None
3 things
1. Chelsea clearly learned from their flaws last season - The thing that cost the Blues a shot at the league title last season was an inability to wear down compact defenses and score late goals to either win games, or put them away. So far this season we’ve seen the Blues generally doing the exact opposite. The arrival of Diego Costa certainly hasn’t hurt, but you can tell that the coaches and players learned from last year’s mistakes and are determined to not repeat them.
2. Aston Villa's 3-0 loss to Arsenal was a bit of a fluke - Villa are not going to win the title, they're not getting a Champions League spot and chances are, they're not finishing in the Europa League places either. That said, this Aston Villa team is far better than many expected. Whether or not they can hold up over the next eight months remains to be seen, but there's no doubt that the team we saw lose 3-0 against Arsenal was not the real Villa.
Don't let the scoreline fool you, Villa played well and were simply overwhelmed by a better team. The overall performance despite the three goals conceded, combined with their impressive win over Liverpool at Anfield, proves that Lambert's side is not relegation fodder, as long as they can stay reasonably healthy.
3. Diego Costa is not fair - There’s always talk when a striker moves to the Premier League for the first about whether or not they’ll be able to handle the physical play in the league. If you hadn’t consistently watched Diego Costa last season with Atlético Madrid, it would’ve been normal for you to ask that question about him. Costa fans and observes knew better, they’d been seeing his tenacious, physical play for awhile. He’s a goal scoring monster, he’s eating Premier League defenses alive with no concern for their feelings. It’s scary and it’s just not fair. Damn you Mourinho. Damn you.
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