Chelsea manager Graham Potter has praised Ben Chilwell’s performance despite Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa.
It should not have been the case, given the talent that Chelsea had up front, but Chilwell was actually the closest to scoring for the hosts in a match in which they had 26 attempts on goal.
Unlike his counterpart, Reece James, who likes to play wider to whip in crosses, Chilwell tends to arrive in the box and be a goalscoring threat.
It almost worked twice for Chilwell, who hit the woodwork and had a goal disallowed for an adjudged push against Villa.
While it led to nothing in the end, Potter was still impressed by what Chilwell offered offensively to the team.
“I thought Ben did really well and he gave us absolutely everything down that left side,” the manager said after the game (via Chelsea’s official website).
“He was unlucky not to score today, he attacked the backline really well.
“There were certainly positives for us but obviously it doesn’t feel that way because we lost the game.”
Chilwell also created two chances in the game, although he clearly needs to improve his crossing, having only completed two of 16 attempts.
Including the one that hit the post, all of his four shots were off-target in the game.
Similarly, Joao Felix has also been criticised for his poor finishing despite playing in a central forward role for Chelsea.
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