We all know it's April Fools and Chelsea are the biggest clowns in town. It was a horrible performance by the Blues who suffered a deserved defeat at home.
Watkins scored in the 18th minute after Cucurella gifted him a glorious opportunity to go one-on-one against the keeper.
Mudryk missed two huge chances in the first half, failing to beat Martinez on both occasions.
Chilwell scored just a couple of minutes before the half time but his goal was disallowed because the Englishman was adjudged to have pushed a Villa defender.
Villa doubled their lead through McGinn's long-range effort shortly after the break and it was a mountain to climb.
Kante — who played his first game since August — had a glorious chance but dragged his shot wide from a short distance.
Chelsea basically gave up after that and failed to create anything of substance.
The Blues now move to 11th in the table with 38 points, 11 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham. They're also 34 points off first place.
90+1' Reece nearly 'does a Cucurella' and gives Watkins an assist with a poor back-pass but Kepa is quick to react.
80' Gallagher and Pulisic enter the pitch.
65' Kante misses a sitter, dragging his effort wide from close range.
61' Felix appeals for handball inside the box as his shot is saved and hits Mings' arm on the rebound.
🔄57' Kante and Madueke on for Loftus-Cheek and Mudryk. N'Golo's first appearance since August!
⚽ 56' McGinn scores a screamer for the visitors. No saving that. McGinn's first club goal in 50 games.
52' Nah this is a comical really. A good ball from behind for Havertz but the ball hits Kai's shoulder awkwardly and it's not as dangerous as it used to be.
50' Chilwell with a daring effort from the left-hand side but it goes wide.
46' We're back underway!
The Blues trail 1-0 at the break.
Chelsea had their first big chance in the sixth minute. Villa gave the ball away cheaply in their own half but Mudryk couldn't convert from close range as he fired into Martinez.
Watkins nearly punished the Blues just a minute after that as Chelsea defenders were caught sleeping as McGinn put the striker through but Watkins fired wide.
Villa opened the scoring in the 18th minute after some dreadful defending from the Blues. Cucurella headed the ball back after a long ball from Villa's half, only for it to be picked by Watkins who went one-on-one with Kepa and scored.
Mudryk had another glorious chance just after the half-hour mark but he somehow missed it, basically trying to pass it into the net instead of shooting properly.
Chilwell scored a goal just before half-time but it's ruled out for a push on a Villa player.
Mateo Kovacic's performance has been the only (relative) positive so far, the Croatian has been really good with these Cesc-esque passes from behind, creating several chances and being very helpful in the build-up.
But overall, Chelsea have been absolute shite again. You can see that Villa are a poor side considering how poorly they defend but the Blues still can't score as there's not enough creativity going forward and finishing is poor.
Villa's long-range passes pose a big threat to Chelsea as the Blues' back-three plays very high-up, allowing Watkins space to run behind them.
Overall, we're hopeful for an improvement and a win is possible but the first half has been dreadful by Chels.
Meanwhile, at the same time Thomas Tuchel is beating Dortmund with his Bayern — 3-0 at half-time.
📊 Half-time ratings
Decent: Kovacic 7, Chilwell, Kepa 6.5, James 6
Poor: Enzo, Felix 5, Havertz 4, RLC, Koulibaly 3, Cucurella 2, Mudryk 1
45+1' Chilwell scores a brilliant header but he's adjudged to have pushed a Villa defender before heading the ball so the goal is disallowed.
43' RLC feeds Havertz inside the box but Kai takes a bit too much time and Martinnez saves the German's effort.
38' Another chance here with Chilly playing a ball across the box but no one is there to connect with the ball missing Havertz's backheel.
36' Chaos in the Villa box but Felix can't get his effort on target.
35' Chiwell's effort from a tight angle hits the post.
31' Kovacic sets up Mudryk for an easy goal but the Ukrainian under-hits it and Martinez easily saves it.
Dubois: "Not sure how long we can get away with the ‘his country is at war’ excuse for Mudryk"
31' Koulibaly with an excellent tackle on Ramsey.
🇩🇪 Meanwhile in Germany: Thomas Tuchel's Bayern is destroying Dortmund 3-0 after just 30 minutes.
Some reactions from fans as we're 30 minutes into this Chelsea shitshow:
caesarionn: "Potter is the worst manager we've had in decades. My expectations have never been so low. 15-16 was bad but atleast I had a feeling it would only be a one-off season.
"I would take Lampard over this, and I didn't even rate him that highly as a manager."
ekimtk: "500 million pounds. We get swept by Forest. Aston Villa could get their 2nd win in 20 attempts at the bridge. A coach who doesn't know which way is up. Hilarious."
Frediinho: "It is absolutely fucking insane how high our back 3 are.
"It’s like we’re trying to force the game to be played in their half because of their preference to play out from the back, but ignoring the fact that they’ll just do us with a ball over the top, which they have twice now."
27' Ramsey gets inside the box with a good run but James wins the ball with a good tackle.
24' Chilwell goes down in the box but he wasn't fouled in the penalty area, as the replay shows. Anyway, no foul is given.
23' Dangerous header by Fernandez but it goes wide.
20' Felix with a nice effort into the near corner but Martinez reacts to it.
⚽18' Watkins opens the scoring for the visitors. Easily, cheekily even puts the ball past Kepa as Villa play a long-range pass from behind, Cucurella heads it toward the keeper, Watkins runs from behind, takes the all and scores.⚽
17' McGinn hits a crossbar! Chelsea's defending is awful again.
16' Kovacic tries to re-create his scissor kick goal against Liverpool but it all goes really wrong.
15' Good counter-attacking move by the Blues but Felix takes too much time to make a decision, plays the ball forward to Havertz but there's already a defender there and he puts the ball out for a corner.
7' Now Watkins is goes one-on-one against Kepa and fires wide. Poor positional defending by Cucurella and Koulibaly here.
6' Mudryk wins the ball from a Villa player, goes one on one with Martinez but the keeper saves his effort. Huge chance wasted.
2' It's 3-4-3 as we predicted as Cucurella and James play either side of Koulibaly in the back-three.
⌚ 1' Underway at the Bridge!
🗣 Potter on Kante's chances of featuring today: "There is no guarantee. It depends how the game goes. Clearly having someone like N'Golo on the bench is positive, especially when he's ready.
"We have worked hard to get him to this point. He is itching to play and help. We have to be careful but at the same time he is ready!"
👉 Here are a few thoughts from fans before the game:
Futbol Chelsea: "This is actually our chance to get out of 10th for the first time in what feels like years. So fed up of that position, need a win. Full time: Chelsea 0-1 Aston Villa."
Nizaar Kinsella: "I think it could be 3-4-3. Thomas Tuchel often used James at CB when he was struggling for fitness, leaving him with fewer high intensity runs to make. They could be doing that again. Southgate was speaking about James needing to manage his fitness over the break."
Chelsea Dodgers: "Benoît Badiashile not starting seems odd from the outside, especially with Thiago Silva and Wesley Fofana out, and even more so if it is a back five. Same could be said for Trevoh Chalobah if it's 5 at the back."
🗞️ Team news
Chelsea XI: Kepa, Cucurella, Koulibaly, Loftus-Cheek, Chilwell, Enzo, Kovacic, James, Mudryk, Felix, Havertz
Subs: Bettinelli, Badiashile, Chalobah, Chukwuemeka, Kante, Gallagher, Mount, Madueke, Pulisic
Villa XI: Martinez, Young, Konsa, Mings, Moreno, McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Kamara, J.Ramsey, Buendia, Watkins.
👋 Hi everyone, this is Aleksei, I'll be in charge of Tribuna's coverage of the game today.
