Thiago Silva Error, Gusto’s Dismissal Pile Pressure On Pochettino, Chelsea

• Derby day misery as Real Madrid lose 1-3 to Atletico

BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI – With just one win from their first six matches in the Premier League this season, Chelsea remain stranded in the bottom half of the table after succumbing to yet another defeat at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

And there is no doubt that the pressure is already mounting on Mauricio Pochettino and the Blues’ expensive signings who have now made it three straight Premiership games without a win or a goal as they lost at home 0-1 to visiting  Aston Villa.

The Blues had a tight game, with the likes of Nicolas Jackson, Mykhailo Mudryk, and Raheem Sterling struggling throughout the 90 minutes to get past the well-structured Villa defensive wall, but nothing came off for them in a frustrating afternoon.

Their bright start to the second half was put to an end when Malo Gusto was sent off for his tackle on Lucas Digne. Initially, the defender was shown a yellow card, but the referee decided to upgrade it to a red after a VAR review.

Villa were able to take advantage 15 minutes later when Thiago Silva’s awful error in the middle of the field surrendered possession to the visitors and they charged forward, allowing Ollie Watkins to score his first goal of the season.

In Spanish La Liga, it was a derby day misery for Real Madrid as they turned in a miserable defensive showing as they lost 3-1 to Atletico Madrid on Sunday.

Clearly lacking cutting edge going forward, Los Blancos were susceptible on the counter-attack, with usual stalwart, David Alaba culpable for three near-identical headers against their cross-city rivals to drop their first La Liga points of the season.

Ex-Bayern Munich centre-back, David Alaba had a derby-day nightmare as not even Jude Bellingham could save Los Blancos whose 100 percent start to the season came to an embarrassing end in the encounter decided inside played at the Civitas Metropolitan Stadium in Madrid, the Spanish capital.

Alvaro Morata bagged the opener inside four minutes, nodding Samuel Lino’s angled ball past a frozen Kepa Arrizabalaga. The home side made it two shortly after, Saul linking up with Antoine Griezmann, who glanced a header into the bottom corner. The Frenchman could have added a third, too, but saw his effort well denied by Kepa.

Toni Kroos provided the Real response, pivoting from his left to right foot, before smashing past Jan Oblak from the edge of the box. But Madrid’s defending let them down again, as Atletico only needed two minutes of the second half to double their lead, Morata completing his brace with another free header.

Despite changes made by Carlo Ancelotti to introduce fresh legs, and revert to his preferred 4-4-2 formation, the visitors could not impact the game much as Aurelien Tchouameni and Rodrygo fired narrowly wide, while Joselu created problems in the box.

With Real unable to get the crucial goal and possibly turn things around, Atletico looked admittedly comfortable seeing off their bitter rivals who are currently third on the table, while Diego Simeone’s side moved up to fifth place.