Chelsea will be relieved to have secured a top four finish despite losing to Aston Villa in Premier League’s final matchday
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Chelsea qualifies for Champions League next season in spite of losing against Aston Villa
Chelsea narrowly secures a berth in next season’s Champions League group stage, in spite of a underwhelming performance at Villa Park, which saw them succumbing to a 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa.
Notwithstanding the defeat, Thomas Tuchel’s side finished fourth in the Premier League table with 67 points after Leicester City lost to Tottenham in another decisive game and Liverpool beat Crystal Palace, and will hence, not need to rely on winning the Champions League final next weekend against Manchester City to return to the Europe’s top stage.
Chelsea qualifies for Champions League next season in spite of losing against Aston Villa
Liverpool and Chelsea are the two teams to secure the final two Champions League qualification spots on a thrilling last day of the Premier League season, with Leicester missing out in the three-way fight for a top-four finish on Sunday.
Chelsea went into the game being previously unbeaten away from home since German coach Thomas Tuchel took charge in January. Chelsea dominated the early stages of the game as they continuously raided Villa’s defensive third, but the hosts eventually took the sting out and went ahead shockingly through former Chelsea man Bertrand Traore’s near-post effort from a low, well-worked corner from Targett, well against the run of play. Chelsea went into the break trailing, as they rued missing plenty of chances in the first half.
Chelsea made a change ahead of the second half, as the Blues goalkeeper Edouard Mendy had to make way for Arrizabalaga due of an injury, after crashing into the post in his desperate attempt to make a save in the first half.
Kepa was called on almost immediately when Villa were awarded a penalty in the 51st minute for a Jorginho clip on Traore in the penalty box. The Spanish keeper guessed wrong on Anwar El Ghazi’s spot kick, seemingly leaving Chelsea a mountain to climb to finish in the top four, as they trailed 2-0, with Leicester winning at home at the same time.
Chelsea had their hopes back Timo Werner fired home in the 59th minute after Cesar Azpilicueta played him in with a cross, but VAR correctly ruled the Spain right-back offside before receiving the ball, much to the despair of the Blues. Ben Chilwell clawed one back for Chelsea with a far-post finish in the 70th minute, as Spurs equalized at Leicester to move the Blues back into fourth.
Cesar Azpilicueta got a late red card for slapping Jack Grealish in the face, which signified the emotions on show in the Midlands. However, even after a series of missed chances, Chelsea couldn’t find an equalizer and needed help from their London rivals Tottenham to get over the line in the league, as Spurs defeated Leicester 4-2 away, much to the joy in the Chelsea camp.
Speaking after the game, Tuchel conceded that his side were far from at their best against Villa: “It was our responsibility to lose today, we had enough chances. The performance was by far good enough to win the game.
“We did not score, conceded two cheap goals and it was a defeat in the end. We are lucky to escape today. I knew three or four minutes before our game was over that Leicester was done eaerly. It was the main target, but we did not prepare for the occasion today, we prepared for the match.
“We did not hit the target, the last touch was not precise enough. Edouard, he fell on the frame. He has big pain in his ribs, we need to wait when we get home to do some images. We will see if it is possible. It was a very strong last half an hour and we had two big chances to score. We fought, tried everything but forgot to score. A loss never feels good but tomorrow I will take a lot of satisfaction,” Tuchel continued.
“We reached the objective and congratulations to everyone. We are still a young team, players fighting for their first trophies and now we arrive in Porto with full confidence.” Tuchel was caught saying in the post match conference.
It was Chelsea’s first away defeat since Tuchel took over in January, but can breathe a sigh of relief as they have now qualified for the Champions league after Leicester’s defeat against Tottenham. Aston Villa, finished 11th having ended a fine season with back-to-back wins over so-called Premier League’s big six sides. In another match, Liverpool secured a 2-0 victory against Crystal Palace, to secure a third place and a highly aspired Champions League berth.
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Sayantan Dutta
(266 Articles Published)