Villa vs Chelsea: More Goals, Please, Villa

It’s been two games and two points in five days for Villa, with game three of the week coming today against visiting Chelsea. Villa likely would’ve wanted at least four from those two fixtures, but a draw with Liverpool was good for the club’s sense of themselves and might be well be considered a bonus. With Chelsea, there’s an opportunity to make it five from nine on offer, which would go some way to redeeming the week and the perhaps salvaging the campaign.

While it’s not been terrible, it’s been terribly uneven, with Villa’s post-European struggles well documented. Minutes, travel, occasion, injuries, and mental resilience have all played a part. Villa aren’t the first team to struggle with the dueling demands of the Premier and Champions Leagues, nor will they be the last.

Obviously, the side have gotten a bit stronger and potentially more dangerous in January with Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio joining in January, but there’s basically only a third of a season for them to make a deciding impression. What we’ve seen so far is encouraging and the additions will likely be vital in the knockout rounds of the CL given their European experience. They’ll also allow a bit more rotation and freshness in attack. Garcia and Disasi will also provide more depth and have also helped address immediate injury gaps.

Players who’ve been out (or in and out) are looking at their returns, and Villa will likely be the healthiest they’ve been in quite some time as they try to make up ground during the run-in.

In short, it’s been a frustrating ride but it might just get better down the stretch. With the CL returning, though, it could also remain maddeningly uneven.

Three points today, which Villa might feel good about given their performance midweek, could really kick-start things. If, and that’s a big if, they can build on it. And, as usual, Villa will face a side that also really would like a result themselves. With Maresca under pressure and Chelsea’s early aura of dominance having dimmed, this isn’t the kind of fixture that will sneak up on them the way it might’ve a month ago.

And even this far out, Villa will be looking for results around them to go their way. You can’t make up ground on someone that isn’t losing, and the added pressure on all the sides vying for a European spot will hopefully start to tell a bit.

One thing I’ve seen said, and that we’ve all said ourselves, is that more goals wouldn’t hurt anything. Seemingly unable to keep clean sheets outside of Europe this season, Villa simply need to take more of their chances. They were more clinical against Liverpool, but even then, just taking one more chance would’ve made a massive difference in many ways. Given what Rashford and Asensio can bring to the attack, it might well be that we see Villa finally able to weather the inevitable goal they’ll concede and respond with two, three or four. Chance creation, if nothing else, should go up. And it wasn’t catastrophic before. But it might well be the case we simply have to create more to convert more.

And that’s probably what it will all come down to: creating and taking more chances. Which, surprisingly, is the fundamental difference between winning and losing football.

In the middle zone, while all the draws have been frustrating, they have been better than loses even when they’ve felt like losses. Those single points do add up, and it’s long been the case that Villa’s tendency to scrap for fewer draws than the teams above has been what’s limited them in the past. Emery got Villa winning far more games, but in the end, through all the struggles this season, if Villa are to claw their way back into the coveted spots, it will likely be those points that get them just over the line.

Has Ollie finally clicked? Will Rashford begin netting? What about Malen? You’d like to think that with so much potential (never mind Rogers and even JJ) a goal explosion is almost statistically inevitable. I’d like to think so, anyway.

So, as Emery and most every other manager will say, it’s one game at a time, and today it’s a wounded Chelsea at home. As good a time as any to get over on a side we’ve struggled to match up against. And instead of focusing on Villa’s defensive frailties, it’s probably time to start thinking more about Villa scoring their way back into Europe.

Over to you.