Chelsea 1-1 Aston Villa (4-3 on pens): Three Things We Learned

Chelsea and Aston Villa joined a parade of other sides last night by playing out a really entertaining cup tie in the Carabao Cup. It was always bound to be a close affair given that it was an all-Premier League encounter and in the end, it was a tense showdown that wound up swinging in the direction of the Blues.

Timo Werner gave the hosts the lead before Cameron Archer equalised but when the dust had settled, Chelsea were the ones left celebrating after a penalty shootout triumph.

The unbeatable Chelsea?

Chelsea’s unbeaten start to the new Premier League season goes on and right now, beating them is looking like a pretty tall order. Thomas Tuchel has been able to assemble a side capable of dealing with pressure in just about every way with this League Cup triumph serving as a perfect example of that. With Kepa stepping up and impressing alongside a string of other stand-out performances, Blues fans must be foaming at the mouth when contemplating what this squad could achieve over the course of the season.

Villa show heart

Aston Villa could’ve crumbled when going 1-0 down as they did in the league but instead, they fought back and took this game all the way to penalties. Sure, they may not have come out on top and sure, they need to start getting some good results under their belt, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still showing a great deal of promise. They’ve got some superstar players within their ranks and there’s every reason to believe they could mount a challenge for a place in the top half – and potentially even higher than that.

Southampton await

Chelsea will play host to Southampton in the last 16 as they attempt to capture the League Cup trophy for the first time in six years. They’ve certainly been through an awful lot in that period of time and while this isn’t exactly the premier piece of silverware they’re shooting for during the campaign, it would be a nice addition to Thomas Tuchel’s collection. Alas, in order to get past the Saints they’ll have to endure a pretty tough test from a side that has already managed to take a point off of both Manchester United and Manchester City.

That alone isn’t enough to signal they’ll pull off another upset but it’s definitely encouraging for those who are going to make the trip.