Chelsea 8-0 Aston Villa – Highlights, Match Report & Player Ratings
Chelsea absolutely hammered Aston Villa in the Barclays Premier League this afternoon as they ran out 8-0 winners at Stamford Bridge. Goals from; Fernando Torres, David Luiz, Bransilav Ivanovic, Frank Lampard, Ramires (2), Oscar and Eden Hazard, sealed the victory as Villa were dominated. Despite the heavy score line, the Aston Villa players didnt do too much wrong individually. The way the two teams lined-up Chelsea playing 4-2-3-1 and Villa playing 5-3-2 seemed to put Villa on the back foot from the very start. Paul Lambert had decided to stick with the same team that beat Liverpool last week and this seems to have cost him as a tactical change could have resulted in a different result. The score line was also surprising as Villa had went into the match in good form having gone five leagues matches without defeat. Although only two of those were wins they had played difficult sides such as, Arsenal and Liverpool. Chelsea, on the other hand, had been in poor league form in recent months having only won two of their last nine matches. Chelsea took the lead almost immediately as only 3 minutes in, Azpilicueta curled a ball from deep to Torres on the edge of the box. The Spaniard leaped high to power a brilliant header past Brad Guzan from nearly 8 yards out. After 29 minutes David Luiz got the second as he hit a 25 yard free-kick in Ronaldo-esque fashion up and down over the wall with immense power. Chelsea then made it three in the 34th minute from a corner. Guzan initially made a good save from Cahill's shot but Ivanovic powered the rebound into net with his head. After half-time, Guzan made several important saves to keep his team in the match. However, in the 59th minute Lampard hit a brilliant 30-yard strike into the bottom corner to put Chelsea 4-up. That goal made him Chelsea's higher ever scorer in what was his 500th league start for the club. In the 63rd minute Weimann had Villas best chance of the match. He was free against Cech but his shot was tipped up by the keeper onto the bar and over. With 25 minutes remaining subs Piazon and Ramires combined to put the match to bed. Piazon played a perfect through ball to Ramires who raced past the Villa defence and put the ball between Guzan's legs for 5-0. After this Villas defence seemed to virtually give up and Chelsea ran riot. Four minutes later Oscar wins a soft penalty off Chris Herd. He takes it himself and scores for 6-0. With 7 minutes remaining Hazard played a one-two with Oscar on the left wing and then skinned Herd before blasting the ball into the top corner with his left foot. In the final minute of normal time, Piazon won a second penalty and took it himself. However, he couldnt get a goal on his debut as Guzan saved it well. There was still time for an eight though, as Piazon weaved his way into the box and pulled the ball back to Ramires on the edge of the area. The Brazilian connected with another good finish as he side-footed the ball past Guzan and into the back of the net. Although it was a heavy loss today a lot of Villas problems were caused by the formation and the fact Chris Herd just isnt a natural centre-back. Chelsea at times had 3v1 on the wings and Villa couldnt cope as forwards drifted everywhere. By the time it got to 5-0 Villas defence seemed to give up. More of the blame for the result should go to Lambert for picking a formation that didnt work rather than it being a bad performance. However, Villa do have one of the youngest squads in the league and the players will never stop working for their manager. They will bounce back from this result and have a good chance to pick up some points as they play Tottenham then Wigan over the next week. Chelsea, on the other hand, seem to be finally finding some form this season. Although it's still hard to understand Abramovic's decision to sack Di Matteo, Benitez seems to have used his experience well to get the Chelsea squad playing through Fernando Torres more. He also seems to be rotating players more which has helped bring back a freshness to the squad. Chelsea travel to Norwich then Everton this week and will hope to pick up six points. Villa remain in 16th place in the league, although this result now gives them the worst goal difference in the league, -17. Chelsea move up from 7th to 3rd and are now only seven points off second-place Manchester City with a game in hand. Click on to the next page for player ratings and match highlights.