When Chelsea lost to West Ham earlier this month, the disappointment at Blue Camp was clear. With Manchester City and Liverpool not losing points, the fear was that this stumble would hurt the Blues’ little chance of maintaining pressure at the top. Last night (Sunday), at Villa Park, the team of Thomas Tuchel continued to press the leader and her deputy, with a 1: 3 victory against Aston Villa. A pair of Georginio from two penalties, in addition to Romulo Lukaku’s goal, completed Chelsea’s 12th league win. Reese James’ own goal in the 28th minute gave the hosts a temporary advantage. Aston Villa came to the game without their coach, Steven Gerrard, who turned out to be positive for Corona.
The one who received the most compliments yesterday, as well as the title of man of the match, was Lukaku, who with a goal and squeezing a penalty in 45 minutes, greatly impressed the Tuchel: “He changed the game for us,” said the German coach, who raised the Belgian in the 46th minute in place of defender Trevo Chelova, after Christian Polisic did not manage on offense alone.
Last week Lukaku was disabled after being diagnosed as positive for the corona virus, which caused the Blues’ coaching staff to give him time to rest on the bench: “He just came back from the corona and 90 minutes was just not an option for him. At half we decided we should create more chances on offense “. Lukaku Himself actually did not so much agree with his coach: “I needed this game today. The coach has his reasons, but I kept working hard.” Regarding his display on the pitch he said: “A good win for me. I try to be less static on offense.”
Chelsea continue to blow in the neck of Liverpool, who with a missing game are in second place only because of the goal difference of the two teams. Liverpool will meet Leicester tomorrow (Tuesday) in the league and will try to increase the gap from Chelsea to three points and reduce the gap from the leader, Manchester City, to three points.
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