Chelsea Stays At The Top Of The Table With A 3-0 Win Against Aston Villa!

There was a sense of inevitability about the way it ended, even though Aston Villa never stopped trying to grab the goal their performance deserved. Everybody inside Stamford Bridge knew what to expect when César Azpilicueta charged down Chelsea’s right flank in stoppage time and slipped a pass inside to Lukaku, who only had one thing on his mind when he received the ball on the edge of the area.

If the footwork from Lukaku was impressive, the strike was even better: a rising, snorting, left-footed screamer that left Villa’s goalkeeper, Jed Steer, hopelessly grasping at thin air. It was a masterful piece of forward play from one of the deadliest strikers in the world and, as the ball soared into the net, it was not hard to see why Chelsea made prising the Belgian away from Internazionale their top priority during the summer.

After all this was the kind of game that Thomas Tuchel’s side made a habit of bungling last season. Three-nil was extremely harsh on Villa, who made all of the running during the first half. It was simply their misfortune to run into a rampant Lukaku, whose hunger for goals has given Chelsea the look of genuine title contenders.

Yet while they were lethargic, Chelsea held firm. And as with all the top strikers, Lukaku patiently waited for an opening to arrive, then suddenly sprang into life when Kovacic brilliantly burst through midfield and cut Villa open with a sweeping pass. There was no stopping Lukaku as he sped down the left, evaded Axel Tuanzebe’s lunge and easily beat Steer.