Full-time at Villa Park: Aston Villa 0-4 Chelsea
90+3 min: The final moments of the match are played out with the edges of the pitch littered with paper airplanes made from A4 protest signs. Villa’s journey to the Championship is almost complete. They could get relegated next week, but there could be further humiliations to come between now and the end of the season. Or , indeed, now and the end of next season. As the players troop off the pitch, the few fans left in the ground strike up a rendition of “You’re not fit to wear the shirt!” Joleon Lescott has the good grace to look thoroughly ashamed himself.
Debut goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Pato did the damage, before Pedro hammered home Chelsea’s advantage with a brace. The sending-off of Alan Hutton compounded the misery for Villa on another grim day for the Midlands club.
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89 min: Jack Grealish volleys wide at the far post after more good work from Jordan Ayew, the standout player in an admittedly dire Aston Villa side.
88 min: Westwood sees yellow and is lucky to avoid a red card for a late, late lunge on Baba.
Red card: Alan Hutton is sent off for Aston Villa
85 min: Villa’s right-back receives his marching orders for dangerous play, diving in one-footed on Ruben Loftus-Chief. It was his second yellow card, the first having come in the 78th minute for a foul on Pato.
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84 min: Villa substitution: Jordan Lyden replaces Idrissa Gueye, as the maiden flight of a beautifully engineered and well thrown paper plane earns the biggest cheer of the afternoon from Villa fans.
82 min: Neat play from Grealish, who slips a pass up the inside left for Aly Cissokho, whose attempt to square the ball is blocked by Matt Miazga and put out for a corner. Weirdly and incorrectly, the referee awards a goal kick.
80 min: A squadron of paper planes lands on the Villa Park squad, as home fans find new ways to amuse themselves by turning their paper signs into F16s.
79 min: Chelsea win a free-kick from distance, which Branislav Ivanovic steps up to take. His effort looks to be going wide, but is saved by Brad Guzan, just to be on the safe side.
77 min: During the protest, Villa actually went close to scoring. Jordan Ayew surged towards the Chelsea penalty area and played the ball towards Gestede, who was unable to convert and should have done better.
74 min: Villa fans around the ground hold placards bemoaning the state of their club - “Proud history. What future?” - aloft, but no show signs of leaving their seats. “Villa til I die!” is the soundtrack to their protest.
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72 min: As we approach the 74th minute, when the walk-out is planned, Ashley Westwood lobs the ball wide of an empty goal after an atrocious punched clearance from Courtois drops for him several yards outside the Chelsea penalty area. Chelsea substitution: Pedro off, Jake Clarke-Salter on for his debut.
70 min: Leandro Bacuna continues to get booed every time he gets on the ball. Villa fans appeal for a penalty when Grealish goes down under a Pedro challenge in the Chelsea penalty area. Replays suggest there was contact, but I think Grealish was chancing his arm.
69 min: Villa go close to pulling a consolation goal back, with Grealish sashaying past Baba and squaring the ball for Ashley Westwood, who stretches every sinew but fails to make the contact required to poke the ball home.
66 min: Jack Grealish and Leandro Bacuna replace Carles Gill and Carlos Sanchez. Bacuna’s arrival is greeted by a chorus of boos, followed by a rendition of “Champions League, you’re having a laugh!” in the wake of comments he made during the week, saying he wants to play in Europe’s premier competition. Between that and Gabby Agbonlahor and Micah Richards jetting off on their holidays to Dubai during the break, you’d wonder about the sheer lack of self-awareness of these players.
63 min: Leandro Bacuna and Jack Grealish prepare to come on for Aston Villa. Bacuna was on international duty with Curaçaoa during the week, playing for Patric Kluivert. Jack had the past fortnight off, having declared for England over the Republic of Ireland last year.
60 min: “There are number of players on the field for Aston Villa at the moment who clearly don’t want to be there,” says BT analyst Trevor Brooking, who is baffled by the fact that Eric Black hasn’t made any substitutions. Beside him, Michael Owen bemoans the fact that nobody on the Villa team has even tried to give the crowd something to cheer about, even if it’s just chasing down a lost cause or kicking an opponent.
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GOAL! Aston Villa 0-4 Chelsea (Pedro 59)
Brad Guzan drops another bollock, failing to get his hands behind a soft long range effort and flapping the ball into the path of Pedro, who scores his second by shooting into an empty net from a narrow angle.
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57 min: Jordan Ayew attempts to pick out Rudy Gestede with a cross from the left, but overhits his delivery and makes life easy for Courtois. The service to Gestede, a natural target man, has been appalling this afternoon.
54 min: Rudy Gestede attempts to cut into the Chelsea penalty area from the right flank, but is dispossessed by Baba Rahman. The TV camera pans around the Holte End, where the occupants look thoroughly miserable. They, rather than the players, should be on a wage for turning up to watch this drek. Villa win a free-kick, wide on the left. The ball’s sent into the mixer, where it ricochets off Pato’s head and Courtois punches feebly. Corner for Villa. Nothing comes of it.
52 min: A Villa fan has been busy daubing graffiti on his bedsheet: “No fight! No pride! No effort! No hope!” reads the banner he’s just unfurled. He’s not wrong - this is a team of dead men walking zombie-like towards the Championship.
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49 min: Jordan Ayew gets invovled in some “afters” with Cesar Azpilicueta, but avoids a booking and moments later, brings a smartish save out of Thibaut Courtois with a long-range effort.
47 min:He’s been an object of plenty of derision since arriving in England, but Pato has looked exceptionally lively since coming on in the first half. He was instrumental in the build-up to this goal, picking out Oscar on the left-flank, before the two exchanged passes. It was the latter who picked out Pedro with a deft pull-back and the Spaniard made no mistake with a low drive from the edge of the six-yard box.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-3 Chelsea (Pedro 46)
Oh dear! Pato and Oscar combine beautifully down the right, before Pedro slots home from six yards out 48 seconds into the second half.
The second is under way at Villa Park
46 min: Chelsea get it started, with Oscar on for Kenedy as a half-time substitute.
There's Always A First Time Dept
0 - Aston Villa have not won a Premier League game this season after conceding first (D4 L19 before today). Uphill.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 2, 2016
Half-time at Villa Park: Aston Villa 0-2 Chelsea
Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Alexandre Pato scored their first goals for Chelsea to heap further misery on Aston Villa, whose players troop off for their half-time pep-talk from Eric Black.
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GOAL! Aston Villa 0-2 Chelsea (Pato 45pen)
Pato rams the ball home, having been denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity in the incident that led to the penalty. Sissohko was booked and might possibly have been sent off, but avoided the red card. Pato picked himself up and sent a pacey penalty rasping inside the left upright to score on his debut for Chelsea.
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PENALTY FOR CHELSEA!
Pato goes to ground under a challenge from Sissohko, who wrestles him to the ground.
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45 min: The fourth official suggests three minutes of added time as Loftus-Cheek drives forward for Chelsea.
44 min: Great play from Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who wins the ball on the edge of the Villa penalty area and side-foots just wide of the far post with a diagonal effort that needed just a little bit more curl.
43 min: Carles Gil goes to ground clutching his head while rolling around after finding himself on the wrong end of what appears to be a gentle caress from the flailing fingers of Baba Rahman. #prayforcarles
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40 min: Jordan Ayew dribbles his way through the chelsea penalty area, getting on the end of a pass, beating two men and then rolling the ball inches wide of the upright. VIlla are showing some long overdue fight this afternoon.
39 min: Miazga goes close to joining Loftus-Cheek in opening his account for Chelsea, but Guzan saves as the debutant meets a Fabregas free-kick.
36 min: Baba goes close for Chelsea as the Villa defence goes into slapstick mode after an unwitting intervention from referee Neil Swarbrick, allows chelsea to counter and Fabregas to carve them open. His through ball enabled Baba to shoot from a narrow angle, when he should have squared the ball for the unmarked Pato. Selfish play from the Ghanaian, who opted to make life far too easy for Brad Guzan in the Villa goal.
32 min: Having just been booked, Cesc Fabregas is lucky to avoid a second yellow card for a late tackle that gives Villa a free-kick in a nice position just outside of the penalty area, left of centre. Ayew lines it up and gets a shot on target, but Thibaut Courtois saves comfortably.
31 min: Jordan Ayew is exceptionally lucky not to equalise for Villa as he charges down a Baba clearance from the edge of the six-yard box. The ball ricochets off the Villa winger, but bounces kindly for Thibaut Courtois. That could have gone anywhere! Ayew curses his bad luck by lashing out at the post with his boot. What was Baba thinking with that kamikaze clearance, though? He could see Ayew charging at him, but attempted to defy the laws of physics anyway.
27 min: The move that led to the goal began on the on the left flank and featured Pato’s first touch as a Chelsea player. The ball was played into the centre, where Mikel demonstrated some extremely nifty footwork to out-manoeuvre two defenders and pick out Cesar Azpilicueta on the right. His low drive into the penalty area was converted by Ruben Loftus-Cheek, whose shot cannoned off Lescott’s shin, wrong-footing Brad Guzan in the process.
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GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Chelsea (Loftus-Cheek 26)
Ruben Loftus-Cheek puts Chelsea ahead with a shot that takes a deflection off Joleon Lescott’s left shin.
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23 min: Chelsea substitution: Loic Remy limps off with some manner of leg injury, prompting the introduction of Alexandre Pato. The duck is finally on for Chelsea - did we ever think we’d see the day? The camera pans to the Chelsea bench, where there other reserve striker Radamel Falcao looks far from impressed.
21 min: Jordan Ayew wins a corner for Villa, when his fizzing drive from distance takes a deflection off Azpilicueta. From the ensuing corner, Carlos Sanchez skews an effort on goal horribly wide.
18 min: A series of loud and ironic “oles” greet each and every one of about 15 passes as Aston Villa’s players ping the ball over and back across midfield, making no ground whatsoever. Soon after, Pedro gets on the end of a diagonal Fabregas free-kick from deep to get the ball in the Villa net with a tidy finish, only to see his effort correctly ruled out for offside.
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16 min: Good play from Carlos Sanchez, who earns applause with a determined tackle to win possession for his team in midfield. The ball’s lumped forward towards Rudy Gestede, who beats Miazga in the air to win the flick-on. There’s nobody alongside him to capitalise.
15 min: A quarter of an hour gone and it’s been pretty pedestrian so far. Villa look up for it, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Pedro are both looking lively for Chelsea.
13 min: Villa win a corner after Cesar Azpilicueta puts the ball out of play in the wake of some dithering by Courtois. There’s no dithering from the goalkeeper as he comes out to claim the resultant inswinger.
12 min: Competent goalkeeping from Thibaut Courtois, who comes off his line to pluck a Jordan Ayew cross off the head of Rudy Gestede.
11 min: Chelsea win a corner and the ball wends its way to Pedro three or four yards outside the Villa penalty area. He shimmies left and then right, making room for a shot, before curling a decent effort inches wide of the right upright.
10 min: From the free-kick, the ball is swung into the penalty area. Micah Richards leaps to attack it, but it’s a mite too high and the Villa skipper is unable to get enough purchase on his header to trouble Thibaut Courtois.
9 min: Villa win a free-kick wide on the left, almost in line with the edge of the Chelsea penalty area for a Fabregas hand-ball.
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7 min: Brad Guzan hoys a kick-out beyond the halfway line, from where it makes its way forward before going out for a Chelsea goal-kick.
5 min: Nothing of note to report thus far, with the ball currently lodged in the middle third, where neither team look able to get their foot on it and force any kind of breakthrough. The pitch, it must be said, looks immaculate, so the Villa groundsman has clearly been earning his wages even if the players and executives haven’t been earning theirs.
3 min: Carles Gil and Jordan Ayew combine on the right flank, deep in Chelsea territory before the ball is played to Alan Hutton. Chelsea clear. Whatever slim chance Villa have of winning this afternoon will hinge on the wide men’s efforts to ping crosses on to the head of Rudy Gestede.
1 min: The atmosphere at Villa Park seems decidedly eerie, with so many fans having decided they’ve better things to do with their Saturday afternoons than turn up to support the rabble that has let them down so often this season. Chelsea’s fans are making all the noise during the early exchanges.
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Aston Villa v Chelsea has kicked off ...
Villa get the ball rolling, playing from left to right. They wear their usual home kits, while Chelsea’s players are kitted out in black shirts, black shorts and white socks.
Not long now ...
“It’s almost like an intrusion on private grief here,” says BT Sport commentator Ian Darke as, led by captains Micah Richards and Branislav Ivanovic, both teams walk out on to a Villa Park pitch surrounded by lots and lots of empty seats. Many of those who are there are holding banners of protest aloft: “Proud history. What Future?” they read, a play on the waffle of owner Randy Lerner, who said: “Proud history, bright future” when he bought the club.
Some Aston Villa fans are planning a protest today
In a show of disgruntlement at how their club is being run, a walk-out in the 74th minute has been mooted. The significance of the time? Aston Villa were founded in 1874. One suspects many of their supporters might have preferred if it had been organised for the 18th minute.
Injury news from Guus Hiddink ...
The Chelsea manager has just revealed that John Terry and Gary Cahill are both suffering from minor injuries, hence their absence.
It's a big day for Matt Miazga ...
The 20-year-old graduate of the New York Red Bulls academy becomes the first American to start or feature in a Premier League game for Chelsea. A New Jersey native of Polish descent, Miazga signed for Chelsea in January for £3.5m. You can read more about him here ...
Interesting selections there ...
If those aren’t a pair of line-ups to deaden the pulse, I’m not sure what are. Micah Richards comes into the Aston Villa side that lost against Swansea a fortnight ago in place of Ciaran Clark, while Carlos Sanchez takes the place of Jordan Veretout in the centre of midfield.
Guus Hiddink has made four changes to the Chelsea side that drew 2-2 with West Ham at Stamford Bridge. First choice centre-back pairing John Terry and Gary Cahill make way for debutant Matt Miazga, who will partner Branislav Ivanovic in the heart of the back four. Further up the pitch, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Pedro come in for Willian and Oscar.
Aston Villa v Chelsea line-ups ...
Aston Villa: Guzan, Hutton, Richards, Lescott, Cissokho, Westwood, Gana, Gil, Sanchez, Ayew, Gestede.
Subs: Okore, Bacuna, Sinclair, Veretout, Bunn, Lyden, Grealish.
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Miazga, Baba, Fabregas, Mikel, Pedro, Loftus-Cheek, Kenedy, Remy.
Subs: Begovic, Oscar, Falcao, Alexandre Pato, Traore, Matic,
Clarke-Salter.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire)
Greetings sports fans ...
The green screens have been up around stricken Aston Villa for some time and it seems only a matter of time before somebody throws a blanket over them and ends their suffering in the most humane way possible.
But as things stand, the presence of life means some small flicker of hope remains and today they entertain Chelsea, a team with nothing left to play for apart from the pride that was so conspicuous by its absence in their performances under José Mourinho as they set out to retain their title at the beginning of the season.
On and off the pitch, Aston Villa are a shambles, having picked up just 16 points from 31 matches this season. Having had two weeks to fire and replace their beleaguered manager during the recent international break, they waited until Wednesday to part company with Remi Garde, who will be replaced by caretaker manager Eric Black in the dug-out this afternoon.
Black’s first order of business was to announce that senior striker Gabby Agbonlahor will play no part in this game, having been relieved of his playing duties while the club conducts an investigation into his behaviour on a sunshine break in Dubai, where he was pictured toking on a shisha pipe. Kick off is at 12.45 (BST), but we’ll be here with team news and build-up in the meantime.
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