Were you watching Ruud Gullit?
The former Chelsea manager had joined the chorus of disapproval for the “garbage” modern game ahead of Wednesday’s feast at Villa Park. With good reason. The closest the Premier League has come to Ruud’s famed “sexy football” this season is a rumoured return to acting for Robin Askwith in “Confessions of Veteran Right back”.
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Instead, here was a symbol of what has been missing for the last eight months: entertaining, risky, end-to-end play, relatively devoid of congested six-yard boxes and without hastily arranged planning committee meetings following the award of every throw-in or set-piece.
The union of pragmatic Premier League managers watching, or reviewing the evidence, will be shaking their heads in disgust at the sheer audacity of two sides trying to maximise their strengths while offering casual consideration to how much they might suffer because of their weaknesses. We all thought such romanticism had been banished. Much more of this and English football will regress to the “good old days” of keeping the ball on the pitch as much as possible.
Such evenings are a delightful rarity because there was so much jeopardy from the first whistle, plentiful defensive flaws to go with the attacking class, and enough goalkeeping uncertainty to prompt a 5,000-word essay on the decline in standards in Premier League No 1s. Villa’s Emiliano Martinez will always find himself ranked highly in lists pondering the most overrated keepers of the past 10 years. His flapping was worthy of at least one Chelsea assist, while Filip Jorgensen – who was recalled by default because he isn’t Robert Sanchez – did his best to give Villa hope that all was not lost, even when three goals behind.
Chelsea and Aston Villa traded 25 shots on a pulsating night under the lights – Dan Istitene/Getty Images
There was still the occasional intrusion from VAR, of course. No fixture can avoid a little bruising, nowadays. The delays following Ollie Watkins’s disallowed goal and Joao Pedro’s legal one on the stroke of half-time were a gentle reminder to the punters they should not get overly excited by the sight of top class finish. Stay in your seats and don’t clap your hands until the eyes in the sky allow it, folks.
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Chelsea ended up loving it, underlining that their youthful new manager may have an eye for a clever tactical tweak as much as for the nearest mirror. Liam Rosenior might give the impression that he sought the contractual guarantee of a behind-the-scenes documentary team following his every move and utterance when he moved to Stamford Bridge, but his results suggest he was a timely appointment.
Aston Villa? They need to be careful that their Champions League ambitions are not self-sabotaged by their manager’s noble principles.
Games of such openness require mutual cooperation. Ultimately, Villa achieved nothing but the approval of their west London visitors and neutrals aching for such a fast-paced, high-octane contest.
Unai Emery’s uncompromising approach contributed in no small part to the spectacle – Jacob King/PA
The irony will not be lost that by full-time, those on the Holte End will have headed to their local watering hole lamenting the absence of caution by Unai Emery. They will not be demanding their Spanish saviour consult the Sean Dyche, Tony Pulis or Keith Andrews playbook yet, but there might be some polite requests for him to inform his centre-backs about the location of the edge of their own penalty when counter-attacked.
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Chelsea’s advancing attackers were granted more time and space than Dr Who during a Tardis joyride, the hospitable hosts gambling with a higher line than a tightrope artist. The home fans will also wonder why their players spent so much of the evening seemingly asking themselves, “Who is this Cole Palmer bloke who keeps tearing us to shreds, and shouldn’t someone have been told to man-mark him?”
The way Villa were sliced open underlined why games such as this are likely to remain a rarity. Everything admirable about Emery’s bold approach when his side took an early lead, and even when they were still competing at 2-1 down, became the stick with which to beat him when it fell apart.
Chelsea’s next opponents will not be so generous, they will already be planning to limit sightings of Palmer and Joao Pedro in full swing, while offering a more thorough set-piece exam to their recalled goalkeeper.
Still, for one night only it made for a great spectacle; a welcome reminder that fast and furious football is much better than the stop-start monstrosity of recent times.
