Chelsea’s season went from bad to worse as they were beaten 1-0 at home by Aston Villa, their third loss of the season.
The Blues returned to Stamford Bridge off the back of a 0-0 draw away to Bournemouth last weekend, having also failed in their previous outing, a 1-0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest.
Mauricio Pochettino welcomed the return of Moises Caicedo for the visit of Villa, but this did little to help their efforts in front of goal as they’ve now gone three straight matches without finding the net.
Chelsea had chance after chance in the first half but like many of their fixtures in previous months, they failed to take them.
Both sides went into the break 0-0, with the first half unusually ending over 60 seconds before all three added minutes were played.
On the verge of the hour mark, Chelsea were reduced to ten men as Malo Gusto was sent off for his challenge on Lucas Digne.
He appeared to win the ball but after a VAR check he was seemingly dismissed for the follow through on his fellow countryman.
This called for Pochettino to make a tactical change and Mykhailo Mudryk, who looked bright, was the man to come off for Ben Chilwell.
Chelsea were actually the stronger side after going down to ten men, albeit momentarily as Villa took the lead.
Watkins was played through and his initial shot was blocked by Levi Colwill but his follow-up effort found the bottom corner.
