Villa 0-0 Chelsea - Carlo happy with a point and so am I.

Going to Villa Park these days for Chelsea is always a hard game. I said in my match preview that we had only won once there in 10 games. Added to that three players that form part of the important core of our side were missing, Alex, Lampard and Drogba so before the game I would have been happy to come away with a point. If Nico Anelka had just buried that header at the end it could have been all three!.

Let's be honest about the game, it wasn't exactly a classic and Villa had more than enough chances to score. Stephen Ireland should have done better when he pulled the ball wide of the post when it was easier to score. Cech made a fantastic save from John Carew's effort towards the far post, at full stretch Cech tipped the ball away from goal and for a corner.

Nigel Reo Coker at the end probably had their best chance as he was put through one on one with Cech. Cech did well to scramble off his line to close him down and under pressure from the Chelsea defence tracking back Coker panicked and somehow chipped the ball over Cech but about five yards wide!. Now that was a let off so close to the end of the game.

Chelsea had their chances too. Branislav Ivanovic crashed a powerful header against the post with everyone beaten and then came Anelka at the end. A cross came over from our left hand side, Anelka in between two defenders, got ahead of his man and literally 6-8 yards out under pressue from the Defender, got his head to the ball and headed the ball down into the ground, the ball bounced up and onto the bar before rebounding clear and Villa escaped. I thought to myself at the time, if that was Drogba that would have been in, however it wasn't to be and we finished 0-0.

Like I said I was pleased with a point and you have to agree with Carlo when he said the draw was a fair result. Villa were well on top in the first half and we had the better of it in the second half.

I was pleased to see Kakuta make the start, he tried to look busy but maybe just maybe got found out and overrun which is why Carlo brought on Zhirkov who did well. Was also pleasing to see Bosingwa make his return. Within minutes of coming on he was bombing down that right hand side and he will add another option for Carlo in the coming weeks.

I was also pleased to see Carlo having faith once more by bringing on McEachran. He was unfortunate to be booked but still did well. He lost the ball now and again but managed to keep his head and play his football. To come on at Villa Park in the Premier League and hold your own at 17 is credit to the lad and things will only get better and better for him.

Carlo said after the game:

"We didn't start so well. They had chances to score on the counter attack and we wanted to start differently. But after that we played very well. We used the ball well and did everything to try and score, but we couldn't score.

We showed in the second half that we deserved to win, but Aston Villa also played a good game. They did well in the first half and they had some chances to score. I think the result is fair.

We knew that it would be a difficult game and a difficult atmosphere. We lost here last season but this year was much better. It was a good result for us at this moment of the season. We have maintained our lead, five points on Manchester United, and that is good."

Like I said overall I am happy with a point based on the chances we both had but just imagine of Anelka had buried that header!.

KTBFFH