Enzo Maresca did single out one Chelsea player for praise even after his side’s frustrating defeat against Aston Villa.
Despite going ahead in the Premier League match, Chelsea suffered a 2-1 away loss at Villa Park on Saturday evening.
Blues head coach Enzo Maresca made some interesting team selections, including Reece James in midfield and Pedro Neto as the centre-forward.
Enzo Fernandez put the visitors in front with his fourth league goal of the season. However, Marco Asensio netted twice in the second period to earn Unai Emery’s side three points.
Blues goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen scored lowly in the Chelsea player ratings versus Villa because it was his late gift that caused Villa’s winner.
Enzo Maresca applauds Pedro Neto’s performance vs Aston Villa
Even after a very frustrating defeat on the road, Maresca did single out Neto for special praise following his contribution.
The 24-year-old attacker, who usually plays on the wing, played the whole game as a centre-forward for the first time in Chelsea colours. He picked up his sixth assist of the season with a great cross, plus asked questions of the Villa backline with his movement.
Maresca said via BBC Sport: “We created many chances. Last two games, we struggled with that and lacked a threat. Today, Pedro [Neto] played really well and we tried with him during the week. It works well with him. But we did not win and we have to be upset.”
As mentioned above by Maresca, Neto did solve Chelsea’s recent problem of a lack of creativity.
| Chances created | Assists | Total shots | Touches in opposition box |
| 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
On top of his goal threat, Neto definitely worked tirelessly throughout with his movement and hard running. In fact, Jason Cundy said Neto was “absolutely spent” against Villa after his efforts in the match.
Jason Cundy was spot on about Pedro Neto
Remarkably, speaking a few days ago, Jason Cundy suggested Neto at striker as a potential solution to their issue in the No 9 position. He said: “I wonder whether playing Neto down the middle might be something to think about because the pace in behind.”
Now that we’ve seen Neto leading the line, we’d be in favour of him playing more minutes there for as long as Nicolas Jackson is unavailable to play.
Christopher Nkunku can be invisible at striker because his natural tendency to drop deeper to get on the ball. In contrast, Neto is a far more athletic option who makes movement both ways to challenge the opposition.
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