NO BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS: CHELSEA 2 – ASTON VILLA 0

Having admitted that he’s fighting for his future and insisting that he will guide the club to safety, Sherwood made yet more changes to his side as the Villans prepared to take on the careworn champions at Stamford Bridge.

Loftus-Cheek did well in the opening minutes, stopping several Villa players getting forward, but Gil had the first chance for the visitors after seven minutes, hitting high and wide following a free-kick from Westwood that Terry could only head to the edge of the box.

The Villans’ attempts to counter were stopped all too easily by the home side, although the hosts were guilty of some wayward passing.

After twelve minutes, Hutton managed to brush Chelsea’s new left-back, Rahman, aside with ease and drilled a shot towards the near post. Begovic made the save and Hutton then hit the rebound high and wide.

Under pressure from Gestede, Begovic made a poor clearance but nothing came of it, with the striker rather isolated.

A flapping Guzan just about managed to catch Costa’s cross after seventeen minutes before the visiting team moved the ball quickly up the pitch, where Grealish was able to cut in and switch to his left foot in the box. His shot, however, was rather tame.

Good hold-up play from Grealish allowed his team-mates to move up the pitch. Richardson’s promising cross was wasted, as Gestede failed to do anything with it.

With twenty-four minutes played, Grealish won a free-kick just outside the box. Ayew, beating the wall and the bar, came close but Begovic had the clipped shot covered.

The hosts exerted a lot of physical force and it seemed as if referee Roger East had forgotten his cards, as even Baba pushing Grealish into the linesman wasn’t deemed a foul.

Pedro won a free-kick in a perfect position on the half hour mark but Willian rolled the ball to Zouma, who hit it straight at the wall, wasting a great chance to open the scoring.

The Villans soon had a great chance of their own, as Ayew progressed down the left and got the ball across the box for Gestede, who, having beaten Terry, managed to hit it over from ten yards out.

Four minutes later, the world’s worst clearance from Guzan left Lescott looking like a rabbit in the headlights. The defensive fiasco enabled Costa to score a simple tap in into the open goal.

With four minutes of the first half remaining, a lurking Westwood pounced on the sea of legs attempting to clear the ball in the box and forced a diving save from Begovic.

The Blues built up some good attacking moves as the first half drew to a close, with Fabregas shooting from the right of the box and forcing a save from Guzan.

More defensive errors from the Villans led to Costa’s ridiculous call for a penalty and a squandered chance by Loftus-Cheek.

Mourinho decided to replace Loftus-Cheek with Matic for the start of the second half.

Grealish offered some hope two minutes in when he got the better of Azpilicueta and took a shot, although he fired wide.

With East presumably having collected some cards at half time, Ayew then found himself booked for a strange sliding tackle on Ramires.

Pushing the Chelsea players deep into their own half, the Villans struggled to retain possession as the Blues lacked attacking momentum.

The Villans were soon punished as Costa took down Fabregas’ lofted pass, turned and shot on goal. The ball was deflected off Hutton’s leg and beat a stranded Guzan.

As the visitors tried to claw their way back into the game, Amavi replaced Richardson after sixty-four minutes and some fluid football ensued but Amavi ended an exciting, combined move by the midfielders when he put the ball out for a goal kick.

Traoré then replaced Ayew in the sixty-eighth minute, much to the delight of the travelling fans.

Poor passing in the Villa half allowed Willian to set up Costa in the seventieth minute but Guzan got down to make the save.

Two minutes later, Lescott almost atoned for his part in the opening goal when he met a free-kick swung in by Gil but the defender found his shot blocked by Ramires.

Coming back into the game, the Villans still proved wasteful, as seen when Gil’s free-kick was cleared by the first man.

Fabregas came close after eighty-one minutes, picking up a perfect pass from Willian and ultimately missing from a tight angle.

Seemingly having learned nothing from his three-match ban for violent conduct, Costa tried his best to wind up every Villan on the pitch, squaring up to Richards before sitting on Westwood for what seemed like an eternity. He went unpunished by East and the Villans were left to watch the hosts happily retain possession and wind down the clock.

Having failed to pick up any points in five games, the Villans were left to reflect on another frustrating afternoon in which they had matched their opponents in spells, squandered chances and had proven to be their own worst enemies.

Speaking post-match, Sherwood said:

“The first goal in any football match is important and they didn’t have to work too hard for that. If you make mistakes at Stamford Bridge when they have world class players you are going to get punished and we did.

There are positives to take out of this game. We took the game to Chelsea, we didn’t just come and try to hold on. We dominated them in the first period without opening them up too many times. We created a few chances but we failed to take them.

We played on the front foot here at the Bridge, we matched them initially. We believe we’ll stay in this division, though it’s clear for everyone to see that we’re a side in transition.

I will stand at the front and take the brunt of it. I don’t want my players shrinking and running into the corners and crying – that’s what’s expected of me and I won’t do that.

I didn’t hear my supporters shouting for me to leave. I’ll keep swinging, even if I’m backed into a corner.”