One Bad Night in Birmingham Against Aston Villa Should Not Define Chelsea’s season

shares Share on Facebook Share on Twitter
 Chelsea’s Willian was sent off by referee Chris Foy (Picture: Reuters)

While the build-up to Saturday’s prime time Premier League games had pundits asking whether Chelsea’s nine-point lead over Manchester City was a genuine one, the fiery finale at Villa Park indicates otherwise.

This is not simply for the reason that Fabian Delph’s shock winning goal against the Blues reduced City’s deficit to six points following their defeat of Hull. Oh no. It’s the ugly, ugly scenes that came just before the final whistle between Chelsea and Aston Villa which will have awoken fans to the imperfections of the pacesetters.

The trio of embarrassing dismissals that evening – two red cards for Chelsea players, Willian and Ramires, and exile to the stands for manager Jose Mourinho – brought to mind some low points of the club’s glory decade: Didier Drogba’s Moscow meltdown, John Terry’s lapse against Barcelona and the disastrous loss to QPR.

Past precedent shows that even the greats sometimes lose the plot and see red, but what matters is how the team responds to those calamities. On that basis, Chelsea cannot allow their capitulation against Villa, under real pressure from their opponents and indirectly from their rivals, to become an allegory of the title race.

The bad-tempered Blues display revealed a degree of truth behind Mourinho’s claim that his ‘beautiful young eggs’ are not fully-fledged champions – perhaps lacking the experience and effectual strike force of Man City – yet the prospect of a trophy-less season without Premier League success means this must be circumvented.

By contrast, despite Vincent Kompany being sent-off after ten minutes at the KC Stadium, Manuel Pellegrini’s men produced an all-round performance which highlighted their poise and adaptability. Many will expect the chasers to use their three games in hand to leapfrog Chelsea accordingly, even without their suspended captain.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was left stunned by his team’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa (Picture:  by REUTERS)
The obvious difference between both title challengers this weekend was in their attitudes after experiencing setbacks. If the Premier League crown does return to Stamford Bridge in 2014, it will be through Chelsea showing greater composure at crucial junctures.

Where Mourinho was up to his usual touchline panto on Saturday with players looking furious and frazzled, his Chilean counterpart had helped the Sky Blues stay cool and cancel out their one-man shortfall to win 2-0. City goalscorers David Silva and Edin Dzeko ultimately rose to the task where Fernando Torres was anonymous.

Although there was a bad luck about referee Chris Foy’s decisions to rule out a rightful goal by Nemanja Matic for handball and in awarding Willian a second yellow card for his soft tackle on Delph, Chelsea will continue to be reeled in by an efficient City side if similar incidents keep disturbing relatively straightforward fixtures.

Now that Pellegrini’s team can afford to lose a match and maintain control of their own Premier League destiny, it is up to the west Londoners to raise tensions at the Etihad Stadium with resolute performances. But questions will be asked of City again, supposing Chelsea bounce back against Galatasaray and Arsenal.

Source: METRO