Analysis: Clock ticking for Aston Villa after another missed opportunity

A return of one point from the first two matches back has kept Dean Smith’s team in the same place they occupied during the league’s three-month shutdown, bottom but one yet with a decreasing amount of time to escape trouble.

Sunday's defeat, to a Chelsea outfit hunting a top-four finish, posed some serious questions about both the approach being adopted to find a route to safety and the ability of those tasked with carrying out the plan.

It was also, first and foremost, another missed opportunity.

Whereas Villa had been unable to find a way through in last week’s 0-0 draw with Sheffield United, here they took the lead courtesy of Kortney Hause’s first-ever Premier League goal.

From that point, late in the first half, through to the hour mark supporters were briefly allowed to dream this might be the afternoon their team secured the result which would transform the season.

Then reality struck, hard, as Christian Pulisic and Olivier Giroud scored within the space of two minutes and though substitute Jota came close to snatching a point for Villa with his first touch after coming on, from that point defeat for Smith’s had an air of the inevitable.

So too had Chelsea’s fightback, for while Villa had defended impressively during a first half when they had just 23 per cent possession, their lack of an attacking outlet meant the pressure was always likely to tell.

At times prior to Hause’s unlikely opener the match often looked like an attack-v-defence training drill, with Chelsea pouring forward time and again. Villa simply had no out-ball with Keinan Davis, once again preferred to Mbwana Samatta in attack, frequently isolated.

Smith later defended the tactics, pointing out Villa learned the folly of being too adventurous against quality opposition during heavy defeats to Leicester and Manchester City earlier in the season.

That may be true, yet you must offer some threat and though Villa did achieve the surprise statistic of recording more attempts on target than the visitors, concern remains that in trying to fix his team’s defensive troubles Smith has perhaps lost that balance.

A larger question might be whether Smith has the players to make any system work effectively.

In the sterile environment created by empty stadiums, the most skilful players stand out even more and on Sunday almost all of them were wearing Chelsea shirts.

By full-time it was difficult to recall N’Golo Kante misplacing a pass, while the likes of Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta frequently switched play with pinpoint precision.

Villa were ragged by comparison and their best player, Jack Grealish, underused out on the flank. Bringing the skipper back into a more central position might be one way of increasing the drive through the middle which for much of this match was non-existent.

John McGinn has been unable to provide it. The Scot’s return to fitness was seen as arguably the biggest benefit to Villa of the league’s three-month suspension, but he has looked off the pace in the first two matches back.

Smith stuck with the same XI which started against the Blades, but it would be a surprise if changes were not now made for Wednesday’s trip to Newcastle and a match which may well now be must-win.

In the aftermath the boss was quick to point out how, with the exception of champions-elect Liverpool, Villa do not have to face another team ranked higher in the table than Chelsea.

Technically, of course, he is correct. But Villa still have to play fifth-placed Manchester United and sixth-placed Wolves, who are both hunting down Champions League qualification.

Finding a formula which can compensate for the gap in quality to such opponents is imperative. Sunday was an example of why the backs-to-the-wall approach so rarely works.

Unsurprisingly, the biggest positives for Villa came in defence, where Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa and Kortney Hause all relished the challenge.

Hause, a keen singer who released a charity single during lockdown, pretended the corner flag was a microphone during his celebrations after scrambling Villa ahead.

But Mateo Kovacic came within a whisker of equalising before the break and there was no respite for Villa’s defence after the restart.

The biggest frustration was the ease with how they were eventually undone. Pulisic was left unmarked at the far post to fire Azpilicueta’s deep cross in off the bar, while Giroud fired home on the turn, via the help of a deflection off Conor Hourihane, after the otherwise impressive Douglas Luiz had lost his man.