Chelsea 2-1 Aston Villa (Match Report)

Chelsea secured their second straight win in the Premier League when they defeated Aston Villa 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

The Blues went ahead through an early own-goal from Antonio Luna but Christian Benteke equalised for the Villans on the stroke of half time before Branislav Ivanovic netted the winner in the second half.

The Blues got off to a good start when they opened the scoring in the 6th minute; Eden Hazard was put through on the left and although his shot was saved by Brad Guzan, the ball ricocheted off Luna and into the back of the net.

The Blues dominated possession throughout the first half but had nothing more to show for it and they were made to pay for it in the third minute of added time when the visitors scored the equaliser with their first real chance of the match.

Gabriel Agbonlahor went on a great run on the left and cut the ball back to find Benteke on the left side of the box; the striker needed one touch to control the ball before squeezing his low shot at the near post.

The second half saw more in the way of goalmouth action with both sides looking for the winner. 

The first chance fell for Villa in the 61st minute when Benteke left the ball for Agbonlahor on the edge of the box, but his curled shot went just over the crossbar.

Two minutes later Benteke cut in from the left before playing a brilliant cross to pick out Andreas Weimann at the far post, but Petr Cech reacted quickly to push the ball wide for a corner.

Chelsea then regained their lead in the 73rd minute when Frank Lampard delivered a pinpoint freekick into the box for Ivanovic to beat Guzan with a powerful downward header form the edge of the six-yard box.

Jose Mourinho’s side came close to increasing their advantage five minutes later when substitute Romelu Lukaku collected a loose ball on the edge of the area before twisting into the box, but his shot went just wide of the upright.

Then it was Paul Lambert’s side who came close to grabbing an equaliser in the 86th minute when Benteke flecked the ball towards Weimann on the right, but Cech pulled off another superb save to secure maximum points for his side.