Chelsea suffered a surprise defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday evening at Stamford Bridge with the sack pressure returning to Blues boss Graham Potter. After three wins in one week, calls for him to be dismissed lessened, however, with just one point being secured by the Blues in their last two home games, calls for co-owner Todd Boehly to act have returned.
For the seventh time in 2023, the glaring problems in west London were evident once again as a toothless Chelsea attack were unable to find a way through a resolute Villa defence. Goals from Ollie Watkins and John McGinn condemned the Blues to defeat number 10 of the season.
Following the three points being won by Unai Emery's men, Villa are now above Chelsea in the Premier League table, with Chelsea dropping out of the top half. Alongside the attacking struggles, Potter left many confused with his tactical use of Reece James and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
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Both usual wing-backs in Ben Chilwell and James were named in the starting XI, but when the Blues took to the pitch Loftus-Cheek was at wing-back, with James deployed behind him and right centre-back. The choice left many confused, including Tim Sherwood who did not hold back on his criticism of Potter.
"I cannot understand why Reece James is not playing as a right wing-back," the ex-Spurs and Villa manager told Premier League Productions. "You've got [Benoit] Badiashile on the bench, why's he not playing because it makes it more solid, they look a threat on the counter, Aston Villa. The most offensive player they have is Ben Chilwell. He's giving them the width, he's playing high up the field, they've just got to force that ball in there time and time again and they're just not doing it.
"Look at the frustration [when Chilwell doesn't get the ball]. He's got a good delivery, he's a threat. This should be a threat on the right side as well but unfortunately, it's not because you've got Reece James playing as a right-sided centre-back instead of a right wing-back.
"For me he has to be there, you've taken away a lot of what Reece James gives you, which is offensive threat. You look at Loftus-Cheek on the right side, if that's Reece James he would be as high as Chilwell is on the other side, it'd give them a double-pronged attack down the left and right side."
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