Chelsea vs Aston Villa: Three lessons learnt in big win

Chelsea jumped to the top of the queue – jointly for the time being – by beating Aston Villa, 3-0. It wasn’t a vintage, dominant performance from the Blues, instead, they benefited from lapses in their opponent’s system to take away all three points. Nonetheless, it was another morale-boosting win early in the season that ticked a lot of boxes.

Romelu Lukaku scored again – of course, he did. Edouard Mendy was unbeatable, as usual. Mateo Kovacic looked back to his best. Thiago Silva looked as composed as ever. Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech tried to unlock the opposition defense, and Saul Niguez was handed his first run out with the team. There were several takeaways from the game, but we narrowed it down to the three most important.

1. Ruthless Lukaku gives Chelsea the edge

Much of the early focus on the weekend was on Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portugal international’s long-awaited second debut for Manchester United bore instant rewards, as he grabbed a brace in a comfortable 4-1 win over Newcastle United. As the Ronaldo-themed matchday approached its end, eyes turned towards Stamford Bridge. Romelu Lukaku, his nemesis for the past two seasons, was leading the attack for Chelsea against Aston Villa.

Just as Ronaldo did in the earlier game, Lukaku scored twice, ensuring that he kept ahead of his rival in the race for the golden boot (granted that the former has played only once so far this season). The Belgian striker was largely isolated during the match, evidenced by a meager 25 touches and ten total passes.  Nonetheless, Lukaku was sharp when opportunities came knocking; he scored from both his shots in the game.

The former Inter Milan striker’s first was a study in composure. Lukaku collected the ball on the run from Mateo Kovacic, beating the last defender to it. Choosing not to shoot the first time on his stronger foot, he cut inside, leaving the defender on the ground before calmly rolling the ball past the goalkeeper with his weak foot. Lukaku’s second goal of the night was an emphatic finish from just inside the box. His strike, an example of precision and power, which he slammed into the roof of the net after quickly sorting his feet out with defenders closing in.

Overall, it wasn’t Lukaku’s best performance yet in the Chelsea shirt. Nonetheless, he proved that he doesn’t need to be at his best to affect things.