Newcastle soon counterpunched. Luke Shaw had to repel Kieran Tripper in a passage that led to Joelinton’s corner from the left. Wilson, earlier, had yelled for a penalty when Raphael Varane bumped him but Craig Pawson and the VAR were not interested.
Next, an errant Casemiro pass presaged Almirón making a mug of Fred, in for the ill Christian Eriksen. Trippier, cleverly, drove the dead-ball shin-high and United somehow remained intact. Shots from Antony and Bruno Fernandes, who also headed at Pope, failed to breach the No 22′s goal. The home team, though, remained a side in search of a final ball as personified by Antony failing to pick out Jadon Sancho when he raced along the right. When Trippier did find Almirón with a low-driven corner the latter blazed over and, later, Rashford’s wild free-kick was another case-study in how not to aim true.Chelsea's Mason Mount.
A string of glorious chances began with Leon Bailey, who had also been restored to the starting XI, heading John McGinn’s dinked cross on to the top of the bar. Then came an extraordinary let-off for Chelsea, who had simply not got going despite their lead. McGinn’s drive was beaten away by Arrizabalaga but Ramsey, taking aim from the rebound, looked poised to crack it past him from 12 yards. Instead he was thwarted brilliantly, the keeper somehow deflecting his effort on to the post.
Arrizabalaga held on to a low McGinn volley but was no longer being worked as hard. It seemed grimly inevitable, from a Villa perspective, that they would be picked off from Chelsea’s first moment of threat since the restart. Mings was again partly responsible, although a clumsy foul on Mount 25 yards out was hardly an assist. Mount’s free-kick was well struck but Martínez paid the price for making a sidestep to his right, the ball wobbling leftward and arcing under his crossbar.
Hasenhüttl largely stuck with the same side which was left chasing luxurious shadows at the Etihad last weekend, presumably because losing 4-0 to Manchester City elicits little more than a rueful shrug from most managers these days. Ibrahima Diallo and Stuart Armstrong made way for Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Mohamed Elyounoussi but, otherwise, Southampton were unchanged.
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