Chelsea beaten after Jorgensen’s late howler
A goalkeeping mistake was again costly for Chelsea, who were beaten by a stoppage-time Marco Asensio goal at Villa Park.
Enzo Fernandez gave the Blues an early lead, but Asensio equalised in the second half and scored again near the end courtesy of Filip Jorgensen’s howler.
Jorgensen, recently selected because of a number of errors made by Robert Sanchez, has shown vulnerability himself – and should have made a routine save to keep out Asensio’s late effort but allowed the ball to squirm through his hands.
Chelsea, second in the table at Christmas, are now sixth and have lost three of their past four Premier League matches.
They were dealt an early blow when defender Trevoh Chalobah went off injured, but they went ahead when Fernandez fired home after being set up by Pedro Neto.
Villa equalised when Matty Cash’s cross to the far post was met by Marcus Rashford, who laid the ball across for Asensio to bundle it in from close range despite Reece James’ attempt to clear. The goal was initially disallowed, but was allowed to stand after a VAR check.
Ezri Konsa prevented Chelsea from retaking the lead when he cleared off the line to deny Cole Palmer, who had gone past keeper Emi Martinez after being put through by Moises Caicedo’s pass.
Jorgensen then produced a good save to deny Donyell Malen – only for his mistake to gift Villa the points.
Chelsea: Jorgensen, Gusto, James, Chalobah (Adarabioyo 8), Colwill, Cucurella, Caicedo, Enzo, Palmer, Neto, Nkunku (Sancho 76)
Subs not used: Sanchez, Acheampong, Samuels-Smith, Tosin, Amougou, Dewsbury-Hall, George, Sancho, Mheuka
