Malo Gusto was sent off after a risky challenge on Lucas Digne before Ollie Watkins’s strike gave Aston Villa a 1-0 victory at Chelsea
In the final reckoning it was easier for Chelsea to talk about misfortune in front of goal and rage at a referee who played only two of the allotted three minutes at the end of the first half.
Of the standout contributions from Mudryk, there was the moment when he tore beyond Cash and his fizzing cross just evade Enzo Fernández at the far post. Even better was when the Ukrainian cut inside, looked to the right and instead cut Villa open with a beautiful reverse pass to Nicolas Jackson. It would have been a beautiful goal, but then this is Chelsea. Jackson’s shot was too close to Emi Martínez and the Villa goalkeeper turned the ball wide.
The frustration for Chelsea was that Villa’s attempts to play a high line were far from convincing. Pau Torres was forced into a crucial recovery tackle on Sterling and Boubacar Kamara had to stop a dangerous surge from Jackson. Lucas Digne lies on the turf after a risky challenge by Chelsea’s Malo Gusto which led to a red card.Chelsea, who saw Axel Disasi have a header disallowed for offside, did not deserve to trail. They pushed at the start of the second half and Sterling continued to target Digne, running beyond the left-back and forcing Martínez to make a sprawling save.