The English Premier League continued on New Year’s day with two matchday 18 encounters. Tottenham lost 2-0 at home against Aston Villa while Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw at the City Ground.
Emiliano Buendía and Douglas Luiz sealed maximum points for the Villains at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium while former Spurs player Serge Aurier scored the equalizer for Nottingham Forest after Raheem Sterling had opened scoring for Chelsea in the day’s other fixture.
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Tottenham 0-2 Aston Villa
Spurs conceded first for the 10th successive game when Argentine player Buendia scored the opening goal. The Villa player took advantage of an error by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to score the opener.
Indeed Spurs poured forward, seeking that vital equalizer but Villa were outstanding in defence, keeping out Spurs’ attacking forays with absolute class.
The away team doubled their advantage when a brilliant, beautiful and well worked team move was finished off by Luiz who was assisted by Scottish player John McGinn.
The loss means Antonio Conte’s side are now condemned to a fourth Premier League loss in seven games.
Unfortunately for the north Londoners, they could not register a single shot on target throughout the entire second period. Top striker Harry Kane caught a forlorn figure for a large part of the encounter while Heung-Min Son lacked sharpness.
The victory ensures Unai Emery receives more applause from all and sundry for a job well done since his arrival at the club in October. The result also means Aston Villa are now within two points of the top half.
Nottigham Forest 1-1 Chelsea
The home team displayed a spirited performance to frustrate Chelsea at the City Ground.
The Blues deservedly went ahead in the first half when Sterling reacted quickly to a rebound in the 16th minute.
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Forest looked sharper and more ambitious in the second half and almost levelled when Morgan Gibbs-White’s effort hit the underside of the crossbar.
Chelsea had a good share of possession but could not transform that into goals and were duly punished in the second half when Aurier’s shot went through the legs of Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Forest threatened couple times with Nigeria’s Taiwo Awoniyi, Gibbs-White, Brennan Johnson and Orel Mangala the main orchestrators.
After winning their first three Premier League games under Graham Potter, Chelsea have only won one of their last seven (D3 L3). Also, the Pensioners have failed to win any of their last four league matches on the road (D2 L2).
Meanwhile, according to OptaJoe, Chelsea have just 25 points in their 16 Premier League matches this season (W7 D4 L5). This is the fewest at this stage since the 2015-16 campaign, when they finished 10th.
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