Aston Villa secured a 2-1 win over Chelsea on the final day of the Premier League season as we end the campaign on a real high note following back-to-back victories.
Having secured three points in north London in midweek after seeing off Tottenham, 10,000 fans returned to Villa Park on Sunday as we signed off the 2020/21 campaign.
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Goals from Anwar El Ghazi and Bertrand Traore secured the three points as we end the season in 11th place in the standings having collected 20 more points than last season.
While the focus will soon switch to the summer transfer window and how we can improve next year, Dean Smith and the players will be delighted with the positive way in which we finished this campaign and it’s hoped we can take that momentum into the new one as we look to continue to make progress.
Aston Villa player ratings vs Chelsea
Emiliano Martinez, 8 – Made some routine saves but also some more impressive ones too as he relished having fans back and showcased why he’s become such a pivotal figure for us between the posts.
Ezri Konsa, 8 – Adapted really well to the right-back position in the last two games as he put in another top defensive shift here to fill the void left behind by the injured Matty Cash. Did get caught out though for Ben Chilwell’s goal as he was left unmarked at the back post.
Kortney Hause, 8 – Another top display as he showed plenty this week to suggest that he can certainly continue to provide us with quality depth at centre-half moving forward.
Tyrone Mings, 9 – A real leader at the back as he continued to keep things tight and his leadership was on show as he marshalled the backline well throughout.
Matt Targett, 8 – His consistency and reliability have been a huge positive this season, as he continued to defend well and get forward at every possible opportunity.
John McGinn, 8 – Another tireless shift from our midfield engine as he contributed in both phases of the game and gave another great account of himself. Villa struggled early on to get a foothold against a very good Chelsea side, but McGinn was certainly key in wrestling back some control.
Marvelous Nakamba, 9 – A superb effort as he was hugely impressive from a defensive perspective. Constantly broke up play in front of our backline and his work-rate was exceptional as he covered so much ground.
Bertrand Traore, 8 – Lovely worked corner led to his goal and although he scuffed his effort, it found its way to the back of the net. Seemed to enjoy playing in front of a crowd as he produced his usual nifty footwork, and he’ll hope to continue to score goals consistently.
Jack Grealish, 8 – Still working towards getting back to his best, but he’ll be delighted to have got plenty more minutes under his belt and his quality on the ball undoubtedly makes a big difference to our attacking play.
Anwar El Ghazi, 8 – No mistake from the penalty spot again as he worked hard for the team without enjoying too much success of his own aside from the spot kick which gave us the lead.
Ollie Watkins, 8 – Worked tirelessly up top as his movement and runs into the channels caused the Chelsea defence problems throughout. Wasn’t able to add to his goalscoring tally, but once again showed his importance to the way we play both with his pressing and cleverness in the final third.
Substitutes:
Carney Chukwuemeka, 6.5 – A pleasant surprise to see him come on given the FA Youth Cup final takes place on Monday night. Again though, didn’t looked overrawed by the occasion and put in another positive effort.
Jacob Ramsey, 6 – Similar to Chukwuemeka in that the pair didn’t have a great deal of influence on the game after coming on, but a tidy shift to help us see out the win.
