Diego Costa at the double to get Chelsea winning again

Diego Costa eased Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho's concerns as Aston Villa's hapless defenders heaped more misery on Tim Sherwood at Stamford Bridge.

Costa returned from suspension to score one and force another as the Premier League champions won 2-0 and their fans sang "we are staying up" - something which cannot be said with any certainty of Sherwood's Villa.

Diego Costa (centre) celebrates after capitalising on Brad Guzan's mistake

Mourinho was the subject of the first managerial vote of confidence of Roman Abramovich's 12-year ownership following the October 3 loss to Southampton, which left the Blues 16th.

And the Russian billionaire was present as the Villa clash began with the home crowd voicing their support for the self-proclaimed Special One.

Mourinho laughed that Costa had "found the reasons for the bad results" - and maybe the striker named himself as the solution before his return from a three-match absence for violent conduct.

Costa was a nuisance against Arsenal, his most recent match, but scarcely needed to be against Villa, who were responsible for their own undoing.

Brad Guzan's woeful clearance and Joleon Lescott's poor control allowed Willian to nick in before he centred and Costa netted his third of the season.

If Chelsea had not had much luck to date, as Mourinho has said, they received more good fortune when a Costa shot looped in off Alan Hutton to complete the victory.

The visiting congregation had lauded Sherwood, who was appointed in February and responded with applause, but it is clear Villa are in trouble.

Villa were just the visitors Chelsea were hoping for in the midst of their crisis, having had one win in 13 prior league games at Stamford Bridge while conceding 30 times in the previous eight visits.

They were equally as accommodating on this occasion after an open start when they looked as likely as Chelsea to score.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek, making his first league start, was deployed out of position in the advanced 'number 10' role, with Cesc Fabregas deeper.

Loftus-Cheek fluffed one pass intended for Costa and next saw a deflected shot bobble wide.

Hutton next benefited from a slip by Baba Rahman, whose first league start was hardly memorable, before firing into the feet of Asmir Begovic.

Villa's best chance fell to Rudy Gestede, who scooped Jordan Ayew's cross over with the outside of his right boot.

Guzan had looked uncertain with the ball at his feet and Willian reacted quickest when the goalkeeper's pass put Lescott under pressure. It was a simple finish for Costa.

The striker next wanted a penalty when charging through between Kieran Richardson and Lescott, but referee Roger East ignored his appeal.

There was no reaction from a seated Mourinho, who is appealing against the £50,000 fine and suspended one-match stadium ban meted out by the Football Association after he said referees were "afraid" to give Chelsea a penalty in the wake of the Southampton loss.

Nemanja Matic was sent on at half-time for Loftus-Cheek and lasted longer than the 28 minutes he did as a half-time substitute against Southampton.

Fabregas was pushed further forwards and played a diagonal pass to Costa, who ran at Richards and Hutton before a shot ricocheted in off the Scot.

Costa might have had his second but mis-timed his leap to meet a Fabregas cross.

A Grealish foul on Cesar Azpilicueta prompted a frank exchange between coaches Rui Faria and Mark Robson, while Costa was involved in minor altercations with Richards and Ashley Westwood as the clock wound down in a welcome routine home win.

TWEET OF THE MATCH

"In the relegation 6 pointer, Chelsea have gone ahead against Villa. Costa back in the goals."

- Gary Lineker @GaryLineker

https://twitter.com/GaryLineker/status/655391512788934656

PLAYER RATINGS

Chelsea

Asmir Begovic: 6 (out of 10)

Cesar Azpilicueta: 6

Baba Rahman: 5

John Terry: 6

Kurt Zouma: 6

Ruben Loftus-Cheek: 6

Cesc Fabregas: 7

Pedro: 7

Diego Costa: 7

Willian: 7

Ramires: 6

Subs

Matic: 6

Hazard: 6

Loic Remy: 6

Aston Villa

Brad Guzan: 4

Alan Hutton: 5

Kieran Richardson: 5

Micah Richards: 6

Joleon Lescott: 5

Carles Gil: 6

Idrissa Gana: 6

Ashley Westwood: 6

Jordan Ayew: 6

Rudy Gestede: 6

Jack Grealish: 6

Subs

Jordan Amavi: 6

Adama Traore: 6

STAR PLAYER

Diego Costa: Scored one - his third of the season - forced another and was a central protagonist for Chelsea. He benefited from Cesc Fabregas being allowed the space to play.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Chelsea's second goal - an own goal from Alan Hutton - was met with a chorus of "we are staying up". The Blues fans have kept their sense of humour amid the woeful start.

VIEW FROM THE BENCH

Eden Hazard and Gary Cahill, captain of England in his most recent game, found themselves on the substitutes' bench as Baba Rahman and Ruben Loftus-Cheek made their first league starts. Rahman was exposed and Loftus-Cheek replaced at half-time by Nemanja Matic, who lasted longer than he did at Southampton. Villa made four changes, with Jack Grealish among those restored, but despite some opportunities, did not have the resources to breach Chelsea.

MOAN OF THE MATCH

Diego Costa: He went down all too easily in search of a penalty when running between Richardson and Lescott. Costa enjoys the physical game and should be able to stay on his feet unless he is genuinely felled. He also had a Greco-Roman wrestle with Ashley Westwood as neither would allow the other to return to their feet off the ball. There was a sly kick from Costa, too.

WHO'S UP NEXT

Dynamo Kiev v Chelsea (Champions League, Tuesday October 20)

Aston Villa v Swansea (Barclays Premier League, Saturday October 24)

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Chelsea vs Aston Villa: Five things we learned

Willian just gets better and better; Jose Mourinho is still the man for the big decisions and three more things we learnt on Saturday afternoon.

Willian is undoubtedly one of Chelsea's best

And so with Hazard dropped to the bench, Mourinho needed another one of his creative attacking triumvirate to step up to the plate, linking play and providing opportunities to the returning Diego Costa. Playing alongside Loftus-Cheek and Pedro, Willian was particularly impressive. His perfectly weighted free-kicks, which he routinely drops into the dangerous ‘no man’s land’ between goalkeeper and last defender, posed a frequent headache to the Villa backline, whilst his sheer energy—coming on a weekend directly after twice representing his country in South America—was hugely impressive.

Willian played a part in both of Chelsea's goals

He had a hand in the first goal, too, being the primary beneficiary of Joleon Lescott’s failure to bring under control Brad Guzan’s errant pass out from the back, and calmly strode forward with the ball before serving the chance up on the plate for Diego Costa to convert. He also set up Fabregas late on in the second half, who should have perhaps done better with his opportunity. There is no doubt that Eden Hazard is still the main man at Chelsea, but Willian’s value to this team appears to be growing with every performance.

Mourinho still nails the big decisions

Much has been written about Mourinho in the past few days and weeks, with his confrontational behaviour—whether on the touchline, in press conferences, or at glossy book launches in Waterstones—frequently catching the attention of the media spotlight. And, naturally, much of this attention has centred on the question of whether he has ‘lost it’: whether he has somehow lost the managerial attributes that helped to forge his reputation.

Jose Mourinho is not afraid to drop the big names  Photo: REX

This Chelsea team still requires some tactical tweaking—in particularly down the flanks—and Mourinho’s man-management ability is far from universally lauded, but reassuringly for Chelsea supporters, his propensity, and willingness, to put his neck on the line where the big decisions are concerned remains unaffected. Not every manager would have dropped the PFA Player of the Year to the bench in favour of a 19 year old, the same that not many managers would be willing to sub off their club captain or a player of Nemaja Matic’s stature, but Mourinho made the call, and was validated by the three points. If Hazard, who was given a relatively anonymous five minute run out at the end of this contest, benefits from the rest and returns a better player, the decision will emerge even smarter.

Stamford Bridge may have lost the fear factor

Chelsea’s utterly imperious home form under Jose Mourinho has been the bedrock of their domestic success, and even in the stop start domestic campaign of two seasons ago, Stamford Bridge remained a fortress. But this season, that has changed. Premier League teams have begun to sense there is an opportunity to win points at this famous old ground, and Mourinho even acknowledged this in his pre-match press conference, telling journalists that “teams think they can come here and get a result- we need to change that.”

Stamford Bridge - a bastion of hospitality

Fortunately for Mourinho, Villa were ultimately unable to do that today, hampered as they were by a Brad Guzan howler and a desperately unlucky deflection. But the manner in which they started this contest — aggressively, confidently, and on the offensive — suggests that Mourinho was correct in expressing such a sentiment. Only by winning comprehensively again and again, can Chelsea restore that all important fear factor. That long process begins now.

Ivanovic cannot simply be switched with Azpilicueta

Along with Willian, Cesar Azpilicueta has been one of the few bright points of Chelsea’s disappointing start to the season. His accomplished performances belie the fact he is rarely deployed by Mourinho in his preferred right-back position, and so it was an exciting prospect for Chelsea fans to finally see ‘Dave’ (as he has affectionately been nicknamed) on his favoured flank.

Cesar Azpilicueta challenges Jack Grealish

The Spaniard put in a typically assured performance, most catching the eye when raiding forward for the home side. However, his switch to the right obviously opened up a gap on the left, which Mourinho decided to plug with the inclusion of summer signing Baba Rahman. And Rahman remains unconvincing, frequently troubled by Carles Gil, as well as suffering the ultimate Premier League indignation of being skinned by 30-year old Alan Hutton. His early display negated the good progress made by Azpilicueta, and demonstrated precisely why the troubling form of Ivanovic will not simply be solved by a direct switch for Azpilicueta, as many have been clamouring for.

Aston Villa’s greatest enemy…is Aston Villa

A fantastic early opportunity for John Terry aside, Aston Villa largely got the better of Chelsea in the opening exchanges, and Gestede should have opened the scoring for the away time after some bright work from Jack Grealish and Ayew. But the chance inexplicably went begging, before Guzan’s disastrous decision to role-play being a ‘sweeper-keeper’ whilst Willain was ominously breathing down Joleon Lescott’s neck.

The opening goal was nothing short of a disaster. It was needlessly sloppy from Guzan, and the Villa keeper then struggled along until half-time, chased down by Chelsea runners and troubled by the Villa defence’s baffling habit of playing the ball to his right hand side, when he is a left-footed player. The second goal was more unlucky than it was sloppy, but by then the damage was long since done. Tim Sherwood can recover from this defeat, and few were seriously expecting Villa to get anything out of this game despite Chelsea’s poor run of form. But fail to win either one point or three against Swansea next time out, and his position could well be in jeopardy.

Chelsea wins on Rahman’s Premier League debut

Abdul Baba Rahman marked his English Premier League debut with a clean sheet for his Chelsea side.

The Ghanaian was handed the start at the back of the Chelsea defence by Jose Mourinho in place of the injured Branislav Ivanovic.

Cesar Azpilicueta was shifted to right back with Abdul Baba Rahman taking over the left full back position in the game against Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Ghana international Jordan Ayew was also given a start by manager Tim Sherwood playing in support of the Aston Villa frontline.

Baba Rahman started the game with some nervousness making a couple of mistakes in the early stages but grew into the game gradually with nothing much to do.

The former Kotoko player will certainly need more time to get into the form at Augsburg that put him on the international radar but did his decent part in the 2-0 victory to Chelsea.

First half goal from Diego Costa and a second half own goal by Alan Hutton sealed the deal for Jose Mourinho’s side.

Abdul Baba Rahman played in the full duration of the game with Jordan Ayew getting replaced by Adama Traore in the 67 minute after receiving a yellow card booking.

Baba Rahman reflects on his long-awaited Premier League debut

It's finally happened.  By some random combination of injuries, ridiculously bad form, even worse results, Jupiter aligning with Mars with the Moon in the seventh house, and other cosmic factors, Baba Rahman finally made his Premier League debut.

Though it should be noted that having to wait two months for a debut isn't necessarily a bad or even an unusual thing.  Both of our regular starting full backs went through something similar, at least once, if not twice.  In fact, Branislav Ivanovic waited over six months back in 2008 before even making his first-team debut, Cesar Azpilicueta didn't make his Premier League starting bow until October 6 of his first season, and under Mourinho Mk.II, Azpilicueta had to wait until November 23 for his first Premier League start.

It's almost like a badge of honor for Baba to have had to wait, facing questions of fitness (like Ivanovic) and height (like Azpilicueta) and strength (like both Ivanovic and Azpilicueta).  And while Azpilicueta impressed right away and within a few months Mourinho was crooning about cloning the man to win Champions Leagues, Ivanovic didn't become a regular until the following season, a full year and a half into his Chelsea career.

But I digress.  Let's hear what Baba Rahman had to say about his long-awaited Premier League debut.

"Everybody is happy and we are hoping things continue to go this way. It was a hard game but the most important thing was to get the win."

"I think I still need to learn more and I want to improve game after game."

"We are looking forward to all the games and we just want to keep on winning."

-Baba Rahman; source: Chelsea FC

There's video of this interview on Chelsea official as well, though the 21-year-old does not go into any further detail in there either.  Not that he really needs to.

As he says, it's clear (as we saw in the League Cup already) that there's plenty of room for improvement, especially on the defensive end of things.  He appeared quite nervous to start yesterday's match, and the first 20 or so minutes consisted of a rather horrific string of giveaways, poor tackling, even worse positioning, and a serious lack of strength.  Fortunately, things improved from there, while Aston Villa themselves trended the other way, and thus, especially in the second half, it was a much more comfortable experience.

Incidentally, Azpilicueta didn't exactly look like himself on the right flank either, perhaps by now far more acclimatized to playing an "inverted" fullback after spending two seasons almost exclusively on the left.  I daresay neither full back made a bulletproof case for starting over the injured Ivanovic, but not seeing Bane out there at least gave a psychological lift to a good portion of the fan-base.  So I guess that's something.

In any case, Baba's now a perfect three-for-three, collecting wins against Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Walsall, and now Aston Villa.  Not the most jaw-dropping CV, but three points are three points.  Job done.  Until next time, Baba.

Cesar Azpilicueta: I’ve learned how to time interceptions perfectly

Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta believes his ability to make interceptions at crucial moments has been hugely important to his development at Stamford Bridge, as per the club’s official website.

The 26-year-old initially joined the Blues as a right-back but in recent years has thrived on the opposite flank, with his ability to read the game being particularly impressive, proven by the fact that no other Chelsea player has made more interceptions in the league than the Spaniard’s 23 this term.

He said: “It’s a case of reading the situation. Sometimes you see the opponent is going to make the pass and you know you are in the right place at the right moment.

“It’s a bit risky, because if you mistime it the ball will pass you, but these are the kind of situations where, with experience, you learn when you can choose to step out and make an interception and when you cannot do it. It’s as simple as that.”

Azpilicueta has managed to keep his place in the Chelsea side this season despite the arrival of highly-rated left-back Baba Rahman in the summer transfer window.

Cesar Azpilicueta has won 55% of his duels in the Premier League this season.

A hugely reliable defender, Azpilicueta can also provide a threat going forwards and – unlike many modern fullbacks – can never be accused of shirking his defensive duties.

The defender’s good form has also seen him break into the Spain squad, and he will be hopeful of representing his country at the 2016 European Championships in France next summer.

Chelsea have started the season in deeply disappointing fashion, with Jose Mourinho’s side currently 16th place in the Premier League table as a consequence of a series of shock defeats.

Cesar Azpilicueta has an average pass length of 19m in the Premier League this season.

However, Azpilicueta and his team-mates will be determined to return to winning ways when they take on Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge at the weekend.

The future of Mourinho has been called into question in recent weeks, and speculation about whether he will remain in charge at Chelsea will only intensify if the Blues drop further points this weekend.