Aston Villa held on Chelsea to a 1-1 draw at the Stamford Bridge earlier tonight. Olivier Giroud opened the scoreline for the home side as he headed the ball past Martinez from Ben Chilwell’s cross. Just five minutes into the second-half, Anwar El Ghazi met Matty Cash’s deep cross at the far corner to level things out. John McGinn went very close to giving visitors the lead but was denied by the crossbar. The draw means that both sides climb two places in the table to sixth and fifth respectively.
Let’s take a look at how each Aston Villa player fared during the match against the Blues.
Emiliano Martinez – 7/10
The ex-Arsenal shot-stopper was tested on numerous occasions where he passed with flying colours. Couldn’t have done much to stop Olivier Giroud from scoring though.
Matty Cash – 7.5/10
The English full-back delivered a pin-point cross into the box which led to Aston Villa’s only goal of the game. Showed the attacking intent throughout the 90 minutes.
Kourtney Hause – 7/10
Hardly put a foot wrong throughout the game as he won some important headers and made several crucial clearances for his side.
Ezri Konsa – 6.5/10
The centre-back didn’t do much wrong defensively but could have done better to stop Giroud from scoring the opener. Nonetheless, he kept things solid at the back for the majority of the match.
Matt Targett – 7/10
The Villa left-back did decently in his own half but could hardly offer anything in attacking terms.
Douglas Luiz – 6.5/10
The Brazilian midfielder protected the ‘back-four’ well and didn’t refrain from making tackles to win the ball. His ball distribution was decent as well.
John McGinn – 7/10
The Scottish international helped the Villains to retain possession at the centre of the park as he won some key duels over the course of the game. Went very close to scoring the second goal as he hit the crossbar from a long-range shot at the 70-minute-mark.
Bertrand Traore – 6.5/10
Traore seemed more focussed on the defensive side of his game tonight as he dropped deep several times into his own half to prevent Lampard’s men from creating menace.
Jack Grealish – 7.5/10
The Englishman influenced the game in every possible way as he engineered some quality chances for the front-men. His agility and movement kept the Chelsea defenders on their toes throughout.
Anwar El Ghazi – 8/10
5 goals in the last five gameweeks for the Dutch winger. He made some promising runs out on the left-hand side and finally found himself on the end of Matty Cash’s cross to make it 1-1 early into the second half.
Ollie Watkins – 7/10
The Villa striker wasn’t given much space to work with but he toiled hard to link-up the play for his team-mates.
SUBSTITUTES:
Keinan Davis – N/A
Was brought on for Traore but hardly had any time left to make an impact.
Jacob Ramsey – 6/10
Could have scored from his first shot on goal. Didn’t have much to offer otherwise.
