Premier League: Chelsea stumble at Forest; Aston Villa deepen Spurs’ woes
Serge Aurier’s first Nottingham Forest goal cancelled out Raheem Sterling’s strike and earned the Premier League strugglers a deserved 1-1 draw against a lacklustre Chelsea at the City Ground.
Forest went into the game knowing a victory would move them out of the relegation zone and, while they were unable to claim all three points, Steve Cooper will be delighted with the much-improved second-half performance that saw his side claim a valuable point.
As for Chelsea, a win would have seen them move to within five points of the top four and they looked well on their way to doing so when Sterling gave them a half-time lead.
But Graham Potter’s side produced a dreadful display in the second 45 minutes that saw them hand the initiative to Forest and leave themselves eighth in the Premier League before a daunting trip to Manchester City on Thursday.
Aston Villa increased the pressure on Tottenham manager Antonio Conte with victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
An error by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in his first game back since the World Cup allowed Emiliano Buendia to score before Douglas Luiz doubled the lead.
A lacklustre Spurs, who fell out of the Premier League top four on Saturday, have now won only two of their past seven matches.
Villa have won back-to-back away league games as they improve under Unai Emery.
It appeared this contest would pit the two keepers who faced off in the 2022 World Cup final penalty shootout against each other, but Argentina’s spot-kick hero Emiliano Martinez had to settle for a place on the Villa bench.
It was a poor match all round for returning finalists. Spurs’ World Cup-winning defender Cristian Romero was shown a yellow card in the first half – and fortunate not to get a second late on after barging Philippe Coutinho – while Lloris endured a shocking moment in the 50th minute.
He spilled Luiz’s long-range effort and Ollie Watkins squared the rebound for Buendia to slam home.
Luiz started and finished the move for 2-0, sliding a pass to John McGinn before racing on to receive the return and chipping cutely past Lloris.
Spurs were booed off at the final whistle, while some fans directed angry chants directed towards chairman Daniel Levy.
