Aston Villa 2-1 Chelsea: Observations About The Match

After the two-week international break, it was refreshing to see the return of the Premier League. Within minutes I could see why I had missed it so much. Vocal crowds singing songs, the fast pace of the football and the entertaining open style of play.

The four takeaways I had from this game were:

Is Aston Villa the reverse of a flat track bully?
Six of Chelsea’s eight goals they’ve conceded this season have been from set-pieces. Against Villa, both goals scored against them were from corners. Ancelotti will undoubtedly need to work on that during this week’s practices.
The players from both teams looked very tired during the last 10 minutes of the game. There were lots of sloppy mistakes, and the teams had a tough time trying to keep possession. Blame it on international duty.
It was a good thing Sir Alex Ferguson wasn’t on the touchline for this match. After referee Steve Bennett was unable to officiate the match because he had the flu, Fourth official Kevin Friend stepped in to take Bennett’s place. However, the officials had to try to find a fourth official to replace Friend. They found one when a local referee was available to step in as fourth official. He was the one who had a massive stomach sticking out of his tight jumper, and was seemingly quite jovial talking to Joe Cole. By reading his lips, it seemed like the fourth official was asking Joe Cole if he was feeling better and completely recovered from his injury.