Chelsea vs Aston Villa: Three things to look for in Premier League return

Chelsea's German midfielder Kai Havertz (R) celebrates with Chelsea's German defender Antonio Rudiger after scoring the opening goal of the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Chelsea at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on August 28, 2021. - - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images) /

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Chelsea’s German midfielder Kai Havertz (R) celebrates with Chelsea’s German defender Antonio Rudiger after scoring the opening goal of the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Chelsea at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on August 28, 2021. (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images) /

2. Threats from attacking corners

Chelsea is doing much worse this season in terms of chance creation from corners. This may be due to the absence of Kurt Zouma. Regardless, the Blues not only generated more shots and a higher xG per shot from corners than Liverpool and Man City last season, but they also did it from fewer corners. Chelsea won 225 corners last season, it generated 95 shots and averaged an xG of 0.12 per shot from them. That’s very good.

In comparison, Man City won 247 corners from 38 matches, generated 85 shots and averaged 0.09 xG per shot. Liverpool won the most corners of the trio, winning 259 corners, generating 94 shots from them and averaging 0.10 xG per shot. It is important to note that xG from corners is hardly ever high, so a 0.12 xG from a shot off a corner is very good. It is also important to note that Zouma made the most appearances at centerback for Chelsea last season. Zouma also averaged the most shots per game of any of the Blues’ centerbacks (1.1). He took 27 shots and averaged 0.12 xG per shot.

More specifically, Zouma took 19 shots from corners in 24 games he played last season, he averaged 0.09 xG per shot. For comparison, Ruben Dias took 11 shots from corners in 32 games for Man City, he averaged 0.1 xG per shot. There’s a clear indication that since Zouma was dropped from the line-up, Chelsea has struggled to be threatening in attacking corners. It was a very potent source of chance creation for the Blues last season, so it’s glaring now that it’s lacking.

This season it has even become more obvious how bad Chelsea has been in terms of chance creation from corners. The Blues have taken 16 corners this season, they have only generated five shots (one shot every 3.2 corners) from it, and have averaged 0.03 xG per shot. In comparison, Man City and Liverpool have taken 31 corners each. City has generated 12 shots (one shot every 2.6 corners) from them and has averaged 0.07 xG per shot. Liverpool has generated 22 shots (one shot every 1.4 corners) from its corners and has averaged 0.05 xG per shot. In addition to this, none of Chelsea centerbacks have taken a shot this season except Trevoh Chalobah and Cesar Azpilicueta, who both took one shot from open play.

In Chelsea’s centerback ranks are Andreas Christensen (6’2 or 188 cm) and Antonio Rudiger (6’3 or 191 cm). In all these, Romelu Lukaku has taken one shot from corners. Chelsea’s taller players are clearly not as involved in corners as they should be, either due to the set piece taker or the players in the box, but it needs to be fixed quickly.

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