Anything Ron can do, Rom can too!
Chelsea striker nets his own home brace
HIS two goals led his Chelsea team to victory, his name echoed into the night and his manager hailed him as the difference in a tough contest as Romelu Lukaku made his own contribution to a homecoming Saturday.
Stealing top billing from Old Trafford was never going to be easy but his own return is going nicely to plan. Playing at home for the first time since his £97.5million move from Inter Milan, he scored his first goals at Stamford Bridge, a decade after his Chelsea debut.
‘It was my dream since I was 11 to score here,’ beamed Lukaku. ‘I’ve worked hard for this moment.
‘I was up and down at the start of my career but I’ve found a certain consistency in the last three years. In Italy, I was playing in a league where I had one or two chances in a game so I had to take them.’
Lukaku has returned as the finished article, a powerful striker who understands his craft and is lethal in front of goal, as illustrated by his second, little more than a half-chance, fired into the top corner with his left foot in the third minute of stoppage time. ime.
Mateo Kovacic scored red the other to produce a flattering scoreline. Chelsea were far from fluent and Villa created a wealth of chances.
But Lukaku was in devastating form and, as Thomas Tuchel stressed, his s quality proved the difference on a day when both teams bore the scars of f the international break.
Villa boss Dean Smith was without his goalkeeper Emi Martinez and record signing Emi Buendia, both serving a quarantine period in Croatia after playing World Cup qualifiers for Argentina.
Tuchel made six changes to the team which held out with 10 men to draw at Liverpool, with international workloads in mind. Jorginho, Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen and Mason Mount all started on the bench.
N’Golo Kante was injured and
Reece James suspended after his red card at Anfield. All of which meant a debut for Saul Niguez, signed on loan from Atletico Madrid on deadline day, who started alongside Kovacic in midfield but struggled to find any rhythm amid the breathless tempo and was replaced at half-time by Jorginho. It was Kovacic who unlocked Villa for the opener, twisting away from a tackle in midfield and releasing Lukaku with a wonderful pass. Lukaku never looked likely to waste the chance. He collected the pass on the run in an inside-left channel, chopped inside Axel Tuanzebe as the Villa centre-half tried to cover and drove the ball low past keeper Jed Steer. Chelsea had already gone close, striking the woodwork from a corner taken by Callum Hudson-Odoi. His swerving set-piece bounced through congestion at the near post and seemed destined for the net until Ezri Konsa deflected the ball on to the bar with a knee.
These two incidents aside, however, Villa were the more dangerous side in the first half, dominating in midfield, causing problems for Chelsea’s depleted back three, creating a wealth of chances but failing to convert them. Konsa headed wide and a crisp effort by Douglas Luiz was deflected wide.
Edouard Mendy stepped forward to protect Chelsea’s lead, making fine saves to deny Ollie Watkins, Tyrone Mings, Konsa and Jacob Ramsey before the interval. When Watkins finally beat Mendy, sidestepping past the keeper, he found Thiago Silva was back to cover and make a block with his chest.
Villa summoned 11 efforts at goal in the first half alone with nothing to show. Tuchel’s reaction was to haul Saul off and send on Jorginho in an attempt to acquire some degree of control. Still the visitors were first to threaten after the break, when Mendy misjudged the flight of a corner and Tuanzebe headed over.
But Mings gifted Chelsea their second when his poor touch was compounded by an under-hit pass to keeper Steer. Kovacic pounced, hurtling forward and clipping in his first Premier League goal since December 2019.
The home team relaxed, although Villa still peppered Mendy’s goal with shots. Bertrand Traore fired over, Konsa headed straight at the keeper. But Lukaku showed them how it was done when he fired his second, into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area in stoppage time. It brings up 600 Premier League wins for Chelsea.
They are only the second club to the milestone behind Manchester United and they ended the day side by side at the top of the table.