Mauricio Pochettino criticised Chelsea’s soft centre after a bruising defeat in midweek but they showed some mettle to bounce back from a two-goal deficit and earn a creditable draw at Aston Villa. Noni Madueke dragged Chelsea back into the contest soon after the hour before Conor Gallagher, seemingly inspired by the captain’s armband, located the top corner with a beautiful strike with nine minutes of normal time to play. Axel Disasi then thought he had scored a stoppage-time winner for Chelsea only for it to be disallowed after a push by Benoît Badiashile on Diego Carlos was referred by the VAR.
Unai Emery banged the pristine red turf in front of the home dugout after Morgan Rogers scored Villa’s second goal on 42 minutes but his evening ended in frustration. Ollie Watkins skied a rare second-half opening, blazing over close to the penalty spot with a couple of minutes left. Villa can only hope they do not look back on this draw as a costly slip in the race for the top four.
