Chelsea Poor Form Continues
After losing 3-1 against Arsenal on Saturday night Chelsea is still struggling to get back to winning ways as they drew 1-1 with Aston Villa. Anwar El Ghazi scored his fifth goal of the season to help his side secure a point at Stamford Bridge.
Aston Villa were trailing to an Olivier Giroud header when El Ghazi scored a second-half equaliser that meant the in-form visitors stretched their unbeaten run to five games.
Dean Smith’s side started brightly but found themselves behind when Chelsea striker Giroud marked his return to the Chelsea starting line-up with a trademark finish from Ben Chilwell’s cross.
Parity was restored five minutes after the interval, though, when the unmarked El Ghazi converted Matty Cash’s inviting delivery at the back post.
Aston Villa moves to the fifth-place position while Chelsea maintained the sixth-placed position. The Blues had lost three of their previous four games before facing Villa and that meant the spotlight was on the west London club going into the match.
Boss Frank Lampard delivered on his promise to make changes from the side beaten at Arsenal and World Cup-winning France forward Giroud was one of six new faces in the starting line-up.
Chelsea spent about £200m this summer but Germany internationals Timo Werner and Kai Havertz were limited to just 18 minutes off the bench against Villa after taking time to settle since moving to the Premier League.
Lampard will be looking for more from the two German players as their present form is not improving. Timo Werner had earlier opened up that the defenders in the English Premier League are more difficult to handle than he thought before coming.
The player will need to step his game if he still wants to be a starter for Chelsea as time goes on.