English Premier League - Half Time Report: Chelsea vs Aston Villa 1-1
Almost every Villa Park faithful would have breathed a sigh of relief when the clock on the 31st December struck the midnight as the year that just went by was one of the most horrific in recent times for them.
At the same time last year, they had a water tight defence, were within the hunt for a European place and were about to play in the semi finals of the Carling Cup but a year onwards, they are just one point away from the relegation zone and have won just
one of their last seven encounters along with conceding the most number of goals in the league and more worryingly, a squad that is full of discontent.
But, fortunately for Villa, their opponents tonight are not in the best of forms themselves. Chelsea returned to winning ways against Bolton in the midweek but they still were far from being impressive.
At midway point in the season, the London Blues have the lowest points tally in the season for 9 years and are currently even outside the Champions League places.
Chelsea have gone into the match giving a 19 year old a debut at the centre of the defence alongside John Terry while Ferreira and Ashley playing as full backs. In the middle of the park, Frank Lampard returns to the starting lineup for the first time in two
months. Ramires and Essien were given the defensive midfield duties as Malouda, Drogba and Anelka started in a three pronged attack.
For Aston Villa, Cuellar, Collins, Dunne, Clark started as the back four while Young, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Downing were the midfield four. The attacking duties were given to Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey.
It was a drab start to the game as both the sides were too afraid to go out and attack. Both the managers decided to play it safe and attack on the counter.
The first chance of the game however fell to the visitors as Freidel’s long clearance was flicked on by Emile Heskey and the ball fell invitingly to Gabriel Agbonlahor at the edge. But, John Terry’s stifling presence was hovering around him and his quickly
taken shot was just inches wide off the post.
In the 20th minute of the game, referee Lee Mason made the hash of a decision as he awarded the home side a soft penalty when James Collins clambered over Florent Malouda and the Frenchman fell inside the box.
Lee Mason pointed straight to the spot and Frank Lampard made no mistake from there, firing a powerful shot past Freidel.
The decision was very harsh on Villa who were the better team until then and did not deserve to go behind but Chelsea were now in front and that too out of nowhere.
Villa upped the tempo of the game after the goal and went close when Downing fired a thunderbolt from the edge of the box but the shot was deflected wide.
From the resulting corner, James Collins fired a powerful header at Cech but the goalie was alert and handed the ball over the bar.
After the half hour mark, Chelsea looked to be getting comfortable on the ball and threatened on their attacking ventures but some dogged defending by the Villans kept them at bay.
Malouda, however, went close to increasing the lead but Collins got his foot between the shot and the ball deflected wide.
Essien then had the chance to increase the home side’s advantage but Collins again was there to clear the ball.
Villa made a chance of their own at the other end but Downing, in acres of space, fired awfully wide off the target.
On 38 minutes, Villa missed another gilt-edged chance as a Downing cross was flicked on by Agbonlahor but Richard Dunne could not direct the ball goal-wards from an acute angle.
Just a minute later, Villa were awarded a penalty of their own when Michael Essien's mistimed tackle brought down Reo Coker in the box and Ashley Young sent Cech the wrong way while blasting the ball into the net.
Chelsea deserved nothing better from a game that saw Villa creating the better chances of the first half but only their profligacy in front of the goal letting them down.
The teams went in for a breather with the score tied at 1-1 but Chelsea need some serious improvement in the second half if they are to close the gap on their title rivals.
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