Martinez thwarts toothless Chelsea
Familiar failings hurt Poch as tricky replay looms
CHELSEA fans began the night singing about the trip to Wembley their team sealed in the Carabao Cup earlier in the week.
But Mauricio Pochettino’s side face a tricky task to keep their hopes of securing another visit alive in the FA Cup.
Chelsea and Aston Villa could not be separated at Stamford Bridge so will do it all again in a fourth-round replay.
On the one hand, given their more recent results, a home draw with Villa is not the worst outcome for Chelsea.
The previous two home clashes with Unai Emery’s side had ended in defeat, the first preceding Graham Potter’s sacking last season and the second in September. Ollie Watkins struck in the second half to hand Chelsea a loss that, as Pochettino revealed, dented his team’s confidence.
Villa had their chances to make it three in a row here, too. The downside is, going to Aston Villa to get a result to reach the fifth round will be far from easy.
Chelsea would have avoided having to do it all again if they had not come up against an in-form Emiliano Martinez.
His first-half efforts were as big a reason as any why this fourthround tie ended goalless.
Meanwhile, being forced to start Cole Palmer as a No 9 and spurning chances in the manner Chelsea did, are the sort of developments which help make up minds with regard to recruitment as the closure of the January transfer window looms.
Chelsea were forced into a late reshuffle to their starting XI when Levi Colwill pulled up in the warm-up.
He was due to start at left back but his injury resulted in Alfie Gilchrist’s promotion from the bench to start at right back and Axel Disasi, Thiago Silva and Benoit Badiashile all having to move across one position in the backline to their left.
Victories in their previous two visits made it understandable that Villa began with no fear and their supporters rose with wellplaced anticipation whenever they attacked.
At the other end Chelsea signalled their intent with a couple of early attempts to exploit Villa’s high defensive line, though Conor Gallagher and Noni Madueke were unable to fully capitalise on the balls over the top that put them through.
The game’s first real chance fell to Youri Tielemans who failed to properly connect with his header from Alex Moreno’s cross, allowing Djordje Petrovic to help the ball over.
From the resulting corner Villa thought they had gone ahead but Douglas Luiz’s goal was eventually ruled out for his handball before he tapped in Moussa Diaby’s deflected shot.
Chelsea responded with a chance of their own.
Raheem Sterling was at the heart of it, buying himself time to start the move with two quickfire nutmegs, but Emiliano Martinez prevented Madueke from giving it the scoring finish the passage of play deserved. And for the remainder of the half Martinez was desperately needed by Villa.
He bailed out Clement Lenglet after his poor pass across his box with a smothering save to deny Cole Palmer and scrambled across his line to push a deflected cross behind, before racing off it to reach Gilchrist’s through-ball just ahead of Sterling. And he continued to be called upon.
Half an hour in, Sterling combined with Palmer whose cutback was diverted towards his own goal from inside the six-yard box by Moreno, but somehow it was kept out by Martinez. By his standards, the save Martinez was then required to produce from Badiashile’s header to send Villa in level at half-time was routine.
Aston Villa’s set-piece routines, inspired by their animated specialist coach Austin MacPhee, had been a feature of the first half and Chelsea made an initial mess of an attempt of their own before Palmer eventually volleyed wide.
Tielemans, again, and Luiz both tested Petrovic for Villa as the momentum continued to swing and the teams took it in turns to threaten. Pochettino introduced Ben Chilwell, Mykhailo Mudryk and Armando Broja in search of a winner, followed by Carney Chukwuemeka.
Having kept Villa in the tie in the first half, Martinez almost gifted Chelsea the lead with a poor clearance straight at Palmer though Chelsea’s star man miskicked his attempt to punish the World Cup winner.
Villa then woke again. Luiz, Ollie Watkins — a scorer on his last two visits — and Matty Cash all forced saves out of Petrovic.
Martinez came to Villa’s rescue again, sprinting off his line to win a 50-50 with Conor Gallagher to clear Ezri Konsa’s under-hit back pass before John McGinn turned substitute Nicolo Zaniolo’s cross wide in what turned out to be the final near miss in a game full of them.
CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Petrovic 8; Gilchrist 6.5 (Chilwell 65min, 6), Disasi 7.5, Silva 7, Badiashile 7; Caicedo 7, Fernandez 6 (Chukwuemeka 89); Madueke 7.5 (Mudryk 77), Gallagher 6.5, Sterling 8 (Broja 77); Palmer 7. Booked: Silva. Manager: Mauricio Pochettino 6. ASTON VILLA (4-4-1-1): MARTINEZ 8; Cash 7 (Carlos 82), Konsa 6, Lenglet 6, Moreno 6; Diaby 6 (Bailey 90), Luiz 6, Kamara 7, McGinn 7.5; Tielemans 6.5 (Zaniolo 82); Watkins 6.5. Booked: Tielemans. Manager: Unai Emery 6. Referee: Robert Jones 6. Attendance: 39,325.