Aston Villa heaped more misery on Chelsea as they grabbed a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.
The result means that the Blues have failed to score for the second consecutive game and have won just once in their opening six league games.
Villa, meanwhile, courtesy of the victory, climbed up to sixth with four wins from their last five.
Chelsea dominated the early proceedings with the lion’s share of possession but failed to create anything significant that would give them the lead.
The Blues had to thank Robert Sanchez who kept out Lucas Digne’s effort in the 20th minute following a corner. Nicolas Jackson had an opportunity just four minutes later, but Emiliano Martinez kept out his low shot in the Villa goal.
The Blues thought they had grabbed the opening goal just on the stroke of halftime when Axel Disasi scored with a header.
However, the French defender’s goal was ruled out due to offside as he mistimed his run from Raheem Sterling’s cross. VAR quickly confirmed the decision as both sides headed into the break, goalless.
The hosts started the better of the two sides in the second half but were reduced to ten men in the 57th minute.
Malo Gusto was initially shown a yellow card for a studs-on challenge on Digne, but after VAR check on the pitch side monitor, he was given his marching orders.
Unai Emery’s side took advantage of the numerical advantage as broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute through Ollie Watkins.
Levi Colwill did block the initial attempt on goal but the Villa striker reacted quickest to slam home from a tight angle with his second attempt.
Chelsea failed to restore parity as Villa ran out winners on the day.
With the result, Chelsea dropped to 14th, which is their worst start to the season after six games since the 1978/79 campaign, when they were relegated. They take on Brighton next in the Carabao Cup before traveling to Fulham next week.
Photo credit: IMAGO / PA Images
