Gusto sent off as Chelsea are beaten by Villa
Malo Gusto was sent off as Chelsea’s disappointing start to the season continued with another home defeat.
The defender was initially booked after flying into a challenge on Lucas Digne in the 58th minute, but the offence was upgraded to a red card after a VAR check.
Ollie Watkins then scored Aston Villa’s winner, turning the ball in off the post to finish a quick counter-attack after his initial effort was blocked.
Chelsea had played well with 11 men and were on top for much of the first hour.
Nicolas Jackson missed from close range one-on-one against Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez in the first half after Mykhailo Mudryk played him in with an inch-perfect through ball.
Villa also had chances to score before the break but were denied on two occasions by Robert Sanchez. The Chelsea keeper tipped over a fizzing long-range effort from Digne in the 18th minute, before saving well from Nicolo Zaniolo shortly before the break.
Sanchez also stopped the away side from doubling their lead late on, diving down to his left to save well from Jacob Ramsey.
Chelsea battled hard with 10 men and threatened an equaliser late on. Substitute Ben Chilwell failed to poke his shot past Martinez and Cole Palmer also saw a close-range effort blocked in added time.
Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto, Disasi, Silva, Colwill; Gallagher, Caicedo (Broja 78); Sterling, Fernandez (Palmer 67), Mudryk (Chilwell 60); Jackson (Ugochukwu 67).
Subs not used: Bergstrom, Petrovic, Cucurella, Broja, Maatsen, Washington.
