4. Sloppy Passing Proves Costly
The biggest issue for Chelsea on Saturday was their passing. There were misplaced passes throughout the match, and crucially, both of Aston Villa’s goals stemmed from Chelsea’s errors in possession.
Before the first goal, Malo Gusto’s poor pass was intercepted, forcing Enzo Fernández to commit a foul to stop the counter. The resulting free-kick led to the sequence that saw Marcus Rashford assisting Marco Asensio for the equalizer.
Later, as Chelsea looked to reclaim the lead, Fernández had a chance to play a through ball to Pedro Neto but instead attempted a weak pass to Cole Palmer, which was intercepted. The ensuing counterattack was saved by Jörgensen, but from the resulting corner, a poor clearance sent the ball back to Rashford, whose cross found Asensio for Villa’s winner.
Even in the first half, after Aston Villa’s first attack came, Tosin Adarabioyo had the ball with multiple Chelsea players open for a pass, yet he found an Aston Villa player inside the box instead. Sloppy passing was a recurring theme, with nearly every Chelsea player guilty of simple errors.