Aston Villa player ratings vs Chelsea: Three score 'costly' 4/10s but two 8s

Aston Villa let a two-goal lead slip to draw 2-2 with Chelsea in an action-packed Saturday night Premier League encounter at Villa Park. The Villans were let down by a proper Jekyll and Hyde performance, impressing in the first half with a clear structure but crumbling erratically in the second. It could’ve been all three points dropped, too, as the Blues were twice denied goals by VAR – including dramatically deep in second-half stoppage time.

Emery played a tactical blinder for 45 minutes as Villa uncharacteristically sat back and absorbed pressure, focusing the attacking input on the transition phases. It worked - at least initially - as the lead was taken early and the rigid defensive structure had extra purpose to hold onto the advantage.

Villa’s fourth-minute opening goal took Chelsea by surprise - particularly Cucurella - as a nick off the visitors’ left-back converted a wayward John McGinn shot into the bottom right corner following a neat Lucas Digne cut-back. It all started with a tremendous cross-field ping from Morgan Rogers, picking out Leon Bailey who skilled past Cucurella to engineer space.

Chelsea dictated possession throughout the opening 40 minutes or so and there were some scares for Villa as Nicolas Jackson had a goal ruled out for offside and the striker saw another effort rebound off the post. But Emery’s brave approach paid off as there were counter-attacking openings for Digne and Ollie Watkins.

Morgan Rogers doubled the hosts’ lead on the verge of the break as he took a Cash lay-off into his stride before cutting in and finding the near corner with a reverse drive. The 20-year-old, who deserved his goal as a constant threat driving at defenders, celebrated with a similar shrug of arms to that of Chelsea top scorer Cole Palmer.

But there was a lifeline for Mauricio Pochettino’s side in the second period as Noni Madueke took advantage of a Villa error to halve the deficit. An amalgamation of a poor pass from Pau Torres and a lack of awareness from Douglas Luiz allowed Conor Gallagher to pounce. Palmer squared the ball and Madueke opened the angle to find the far corner for 2-1. The Blues’ goal was coming as Madueke saw an earlier effort go narrowly wide and Cash crucially blocked a close-range Benoit Badiashile header.

A mightily tense 20 minutes or so of Villa tentatively passing around the back and struggling to deal with Chelsea’s high press ended in disaster as Gallagher picked out the top left-hand corner to make it 2-2. It was an impressive curled effort but effectively a free shot at goal as no Villa defenders pushed out to stop the shot in a costly lapse of concentration.

Emery’s men pushed for a winner to rectify their second-half fallout but Watkins, with the best opportunity of the bunch, fluffed his lines. The England international rarely misses on instinct but he leaned back and fired over from a brilliant low Cash cross.

There was a remarkable end, sparked by a horrendous Diego Carlos error. The Brazilian first completely misjudged the flight of a dropping ball and allowed Palmer a match-clinching chance. Chelsea’s number 20 tricked his way past Carlos and Pau to get one-on-one but half-time substitute Robin Olsen made a tremendous save.

Axel Disasi then netted what he thought was a dramatic 95th-minute winner as Villa failed to clear Palmer’s corner and it was nodded back across for the centre-back to head in off the crossbar. The away support went into a frenzy on the far side but VAR intervened, disallowing the goal for a Badiashile foul on Carlos. Albeit the correct decision, it was a huge let-off for the hosts who fell apart.

To add insult to injury for Villa - quite literally - two players were forced off. Youri Tielemans was the first as the Belgian midfielder went down with a groin problem in the 26th minute. Emiliano Martinez then didn’t re-emerge for the second 45 after receiving brief treatment before the break.

Here’s how Birmingham World reporter Charlie Haffenden rated the Villa players out of 10 on a frantic night under the lights in B6.