Increase our game
This was the reason why the Blues raised the pace and the pressure, briefly interrupted by the now regulatory drinks that break in the middle of the half.
Willian threw a ball in the face of the goal of the Villa with a Giroud that stretched making a vain attempt to apply the crucial touch, and Mount again stretched Nyland.
The keeper of the Villa was less sure when the ball left his palms a few moments later, but he panicked when he grabbed it before he could cross the line. Then it was time for Kepa to make his first save of the game with just over half an hour played, denied by the Villa Anwar El Ghazi player.
Most of Chelsea’s openings were taking place on our right and when Mount made his way and crossed the post five minutes before the break, it seemed certain that the stall would break, but Loftus-Cheek, like Giroud before, could not quite reaching it.
Instead it was Villa who went up 1-0, and completely against the race of the game when the Chelsea defender’s lack was found.
Douglas Luiz was the player who handed over the cross there, and it was good, but we allowed two players to escape the sign. Although Kepa was able to hold off El Ghazi’s initial effort, Hause was quick to jump and spin the free ball.
Alonso blocked a volley and Kovacic was not far with a 20 yard before the break, but somehow we got behind.
Salvation of the second half
We were facing a defensive side of the Villa even before the goal, but this was more and more the case and Frank Lampard waited only 10 minutes after the restart to make a double change: Barkley and Pulisic brought Kovacic and Loftus-Cheek.
Giroud was frustrated when an Azpilicueta post post cross did not fall where he needed it but with an hour played, another skipper cross did the trick.
This time he sent the ball deeper into the far post where Pulisic, playing his first game since the beginning of the year due to an injury, arrived without a sign and slipped from the bottom of the crossbar.
