Chelsea should have exploited the reprieve. Three times, though, they were denied by Martinez. For the first, Cole Palmer, playing as a centre-forward, found Noni Madueke in space only for his shot to be repelled by the goalkeeper with his right leg.
Soon after and the Argentina international rescued Villa again, again saving with his leg, after Clement Lenglet’s wayward pass was intercepted by Palmer inside the penalty area. Then Raheem Sterling wriggled beyond Matty Cash and pulled the ball back. This time, surely, Madueke had to score but his close-range effort rebounded off Martinez and it was another let-off for Villa. Martinez celebrated with the away fans behind his goal.
Chelsea should have been ahead by now as they pressed high, often bravely leaving Thiago Silva and Axel Disasi, their centre-halves, man-for-man with Villa’s Ollie Watkins and Moussa Diaby. Their tactics also included captain Conor Gallagher closing down Lenglet, clearly Villa’s weakest player in possession, whenever he had the ball but on half-time Tielemans was picked out on the area’s edge only to fire over. It was a warning.
There had been a late reshuffle for Pochettino with yet another injury setback; yet more woes as to what is happening with the fitness of the squad. This time Levi Colwill, whose knee was already heavily bandaged, was injured in the warm-up with 20-year-old Alfie Gilchrist taking his place as the defence was rejigged.
Chelsea’s pressing was impressive even if it had not, yet, gained its reward with the conclusion that they are continuing to pay the price for still not acquiring a reliable No.9 who they believe in. And, so, it continued with Palmer volleying wide – that was a good effort – before both Madueke and Sterling delayed and delayed when well-placed and were eventually crowded out. Both had to shoot earlier. Madueke reacted by changing his boots, having split one of his original pair.
The wastefulness carried on with Martinez’s pass striking Palmer. After he brought the ball down he had time and space but panicked and miscontrolled with his attempted shot rolling tamely to the relieved goalkeeper. That was, frankly, not good enough especially from a player with Palmer’s ability and growing reputation.