CHELSEA should be doing more this season than occasionally puncturing egos. The quality of yesterday's 2-0 win at Villa Park suggested that they should not be merely nibbling at the fringes of the championship contest.
Inspired by Ruud Gullit in his sweeper's role, Chelsea ended Aston Villa's run of five successive Premier League victories with the two goals scored by Gianfranco Zola in the space of four minutes midway through the second half.
Zola, the attacking brain behind last Saturday's 3-1 defeat of West Ham, has now found the net four times in as many matches. At £4.5 million from Parma, he may yet prove to be a better bet than Gianluca Vialli, signed on a free transfer from Juventus.
In the absence of the injured Vialli, Zola was pushed further forward to play off Mark Hughes. Wise's suspension has given Craig Burley an opportunity to prove that he is something other than an optional extra, and on yesterday's evidence he has a convincing case.
It was, essentially, a victory for sound improvisation. No Vialli, no Dennis Wise and no Frank Le Boeuf, who was also suspended. In theory, that should have given an unchanged Aston Villa side the edge following the 5-0 rout of Wimbledon on Sunday. In reality, Villa were marginalised for much of the game.
Once it was clear that the on-form Dwight Yorke would only outwit Michael Duberry merely to be confronted by Gullit or Steve Clarke, the Villa attack became a sword in a scabbard. So while Villa again played patient, possessive football, their final passes lacked effect.
And once Gull it and Burley had established lines of communication with those around them, a Chelsea victory depended only on them getting enough bodies into the opposing penalty area at vital moments. In the end, the small, wiry form of Zola was enough, but until the goals arrived, stalemate beckoned.
During this time, two clear chances fell to Chelsea, each the result of shrewdly-timed passes by Budey. The first, after 20 minutes, sent in Eddie Newton to bring a solid save from Mark Bosnich. The second, after 60, released Zola, but again Bosnich saved.
Aston Villa might well have found themselves down to 10 men nine minutes before half-time when Roberti Di Matteo was brought down by Riccardo Scimeca some two yards outside the penalty area.
Paul Danson, a hanging referee in the autumn, now let the defender off with a caution, a decision not entirely consistent with the dismissal of Tony Adams, for a much milder offence on Alan Shearer, when Arsenal won at Newcastle last month.
Aston Villa's one real chance of scoring came and went a minute before they fell behind. Tommy Johnson had just replaced Milosevic and when he produced one of Villa's few centres of any quality, Yorke rose well to meet it. But Clarke blocked the header before it could trouble Frode Grodas and after Yorke had managed to turn the rebound back from the byline, Ian Taylor was unable to make proper contact.
Chelsea then won the match. In the 65th minute, Newton and Dan Petrescu worked the ball in to Zola from the right. The Italian produced a left-footed shot which, while it took a slight deflection off Ugo Ehiogu, should have been dealt with more efficiently by Bosnich. The Villa goalkeeper was going the wrong way but could still have stopped the shot with his legs.
Four minutes later, Di Matteo searched for Zola with a long, high ball from the right. Fernando Nelson reached it first but in trying to head the ball back, confused Bosnich and left Zola to find an empty net, which he did with utter nonchalance.
It was a chastening experience for Villa, who with fixtures against Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle and Liverpool coming up had looked to yesterday's match to keep the run going.
It was also Chelsea's first clean sheet in 17 games. Yesterday, they had a good blanket.
