Aston Villa fell to defeat at Stamford Bridge as Tammy Abraham scored against his former side.
With Frederic Guilbert suspended, Ahmed Elmohamady replaced the Frenchman, whilst Marvelous Nakamba came back into the midfield. Douglas Luiz dropped to the bench.
It was once promoted as the John Terry welcome back party, but on the night Dean Smith lost to Frank Lampard having held a perfect three in a row record against the Chelsea boss.
Walk like an Egyptian
With Egyptian chemistry running down the right flank with Trezeguet and Elmo, the latter assisted his countryman to restore parity for Villa before half time. With great accuracy, Elmohamady crossed the ball across the box where Trezeguet eventually bundled the ball in.
It was a first-half comeback that ended a half that started in unlikely fashion for Villa. Dean Smith’s men, in terms of first-half results, were second in the table before travelling to Stamford Bridge.
So when Tammy Abraham crept in the Villa box unmarked the former Villa forward pegged Villa behind for only the third time this season.
De Ja Vu
In typical fashion, the travellers failed to make use of their equaliser after the break. Mason Mount finished with aplomb after Abraham was once more so instrumental, chesting the ball down for his teammate.
Tom Heaton later preserved Chelsea’s slender advantage with Villa lacking a creative spark at the other end. Clawing the ball from the top corner, Willian was left bemused to how Heaton managed to reach his almost inch-perfect free-kick.
After back to back away games, Villa will host high flying Leicester City at Villa Park on Saturday.
