Kepa Arrizabalaga continued to complete his transformation from villain to hero at Chelsea, with his performance against Aston Villa considered to be “world-class”.
In the 6th minute, an ugly error by Mings opens the door for Mount, and the Chelsea man strides right through.
After the Villa defender skews a headed clearance up into the air, leaving Martinez stranded, Mount pounces with a cool finish into the bottom-right corner from close range.
In the 15th minute, Villa missed out on an equalizer, as Bailey’s header clipped the crossbar. McGinn stood up an inviting cross from the left byline, and the Jamaican winger could only steer his effort against the top of the goal frame from five yards out.
In the 21st minute, Kepa outdid himself with three close-range saves in succession, as McGinn, Ings, and Ramsey are all denied by the goalkeeper’s sharp reflexes. Then, Luiz fired over the bar from 20 yards out before the flag goes up for offside.
10 minutes later, an incredible, jaw-dropping stop by Kepa denies Villa yet again, after Bailey delivers a cross to the back post from the right and Ings thunders a close-range header at goal. Somehow, the goalkeeper acrobatically claws it away and over the top of his goalpost.
In the 62nd minute, Luiz swung over a high cross which Kepa is just about able to punch away. However, the ball quickly came back in via a low shot from McGinn, which the Chelsea keeper saved low down to his right.
Mason Mount doubled up three minutes later with a wickedly dipping free-kick from the left side of the area, over 20 yards out from goal, Mount flummoxes Martinez and finds the back of the net.
Chelsea tackle Brentford and Manchester United over the course of the coming week. Meanwhile, ailing Aston Villa aims to pull clear of the Premier League drop zone when they visit Fulham on Thursday.
