Chelsea suffered yet another setback in their Premier League campaign as they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa at Villa Park. Despite taking the lead through Enzo Fernandez’s early goal, the Blues were undone by two second-half strikes from the hosts, marking their third loss in four league matches.
Head coach Enzo Maresca admitted the result was ‘tough’ to take, especially as he believed Chelsea deserved at least a point from the game. However, the Italian tactician found a silver lining in the performance of Pedro Neto, who he experimented with in a striker role during training this week.
“It is a tough one,” Maresca said after the match. “Because compared to the game against Brighton, the performance and reaction were good.
“At the moment, we are in a bad run. But we need to stick together and try to win games. I have a feeling we will go again if we win a game.
“Until that, we need to work hard and try to get the win as soon as possible. We created many chances. Last two games, we struggled with that and lacked a threat.”
Maresca was particularly pleased with Pedro Neto’s display, praising his impact after being trialed in a different role.
“Today, Pedro [Neto] played really well and we tried with him during the week. It works well with him. But we did not win and we have to be upset.”
The Chelsea boss also lamented his side’s lack of ruthlessness in front of goal and the costly defensive mistake that led to Villa’s winning strike.
“If you are not clinical, this league is always open – if you make a mistake, like we did in the second goal unfortunately. When we have the chance, we have to take that.”
Maresca acknowledged that his side showed glimpses of quality but emphasized the need for a complete performance.
“Once again today, we showed we can be good for long parts of the game. But that’s not enough. The performance has to be complete.
“We need to score goals when we have the chance and defend well, but I thought we defended well today. It is a moment where we were also a bit unlucky.”
With Chelsea struggling to find consistency, Maresca will be hoping his side can bounce back in the coming fixtures, especially with Neto showing promise in his new role.