Aston Villa crashed to a 2-1 defeat at home to Chelsea today.
Dean Smith’s side have now dropped five points in their two games since the resumption of the Premier League and they will be under immense pressure now.
Villa were already in the bottom three going into the game and now they have fallen further behind in the race for survival. Brighton managed to beat Arsenal the other day and Villa will have to pick up their form soon.
Kortney Hause scored from close range on the 43rd minute to give the home side a crucial lead. However, Chelsea fought back in the second half.
The Blues got back into the game at the hour mark through Christian Pulisic and Olivier Giroud gave them the lead two minutes later.
Star defender Cesar Azpilicueta was involved in both goals and Frank Lampard will be delighted with the result.
It is all about the three points at this stage of the season and Chelsea managed to keep their top four hopes alive with a good win.
The Blues are now fourth in the table, five points clear of nearest rivals Manchester United. They are three points adrift of third placed Leicester and Lampard will fancy his chances of finishing in the top three as well.
Chelsea have the quality to finish the season strongly.
It will be interesting to see if Aston Villa can beat the drop this season. They are now 19th in the Premier League table but a couple of wins could lift them out of the drop zone and give them some breathing space.
The relegation battle it too close to call right now and Villa have every chance to beat the drop if they can pick up form now.
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Aston Villa
25-Nyland, 15-Konsa <Booked at 45>, 30-Hause, 40-Mings, 18-Targett, 7-McGinn (Jota 87′), 6Douglas Luiz, 14-Hourihane (Nakamba 70′), 21-El Ghazi (Trézéguet 70′), 39-Davis (Samatta 57′), 10-Grealish <Booked at 90>
Substitutes
3-Taylor, 11-Nakamba, 17-Trézéguet, 19-Bastón, 20-Samatta, 23-Jota, 27-El Mohamady, 29-Reina, 36-Vassilev
Chelsea
1-Arrizabalaga, 28-Azpilicueta, 4-Christensen, 2-Rüdiger, 3-Alonso, 17-Kovacic (Barkley 55′), 7-Kanté <Booked at 90>, 19-Mount, 10-Willian (James 90′), 18-Giroud (Abraham 80′), 12-Loftus-Cheek (Pulisic 55′)
Substitutes
8-Barkley, 9-Abraham, 11-Pedro, 13-Caballero, 15-Zouma, 22-Pulisic, 24-James, 33-Emerson, 47-Gilmour