As these teams emerged for kick-off, the Holte End displayed a tifo proudly flaunting Aston Villa’s hand, chiefly an ace of clubs. By the end, however, they rued a damaging defeat after Chelsea roused from being behind to dismantle Unai Emery’s side and canter to victory, João Pedro scoring a hat-trick to make it 17 goals for the season in all competitions.
The Brazilian, a £55m buy from Brighton last summer, was in the mood for a fourth and tried his luck with an overhead-kick, while the Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez prevented Alejandro Garnacho from adding a fifth late on. For Villa and their grand aspirations, it was a sobering evening.
It was Liam Rosenior who shuffled his pack a little, dropping Robert Sánchez with the goalkeeper culpable for both goals in defeat at Arsenal last Sunday, but while Chelsea made a poor start, trailing inside two minutes, Filip Jörgensen was rarely troubled on just his third league appearance of the season.
When João Pedro exhibited his anime face-mask goal celebration for the final time, every outfield Chelsea player joined the party in front of the away fans, while many in the home end headed for the exits. It was fitting that Enzo Fernández pretended to polish the forward’s boot after his second.
