top of page

Game #4450

Aston Villa

Thursday, 26 December 1996

Lost

5th (-1)

Last 5: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟥

Premier League

Chelsea

Attendance: 39,339

Villa Park

Aston Villa

0-2

Chelsea

Assist(s) | None

MATCH SUMMARY

Villa lose for the first time in six Premier League games as Chelsea win at Villa Park.

KEY MAN

"Bosnich could have done better with both goals."

PREVIOUS MATCH

NEXT MATCH

2020-21 (h) Aston Villa Kit.gif
2020-21 (h) Aston Villa Kit.gif

Copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission.

MATCH TIMELINE

Thursday, 26 December 1996

🕒 | HT Aston Villa 0-0 Chelsea
🔁 | 61’ Sub off, Savo Milošević, Sub on, Tommy Johnson
🔁 | 61’ Sub off, Mark Draper, Sub on, Saša Ćurčić
🥅 | 66’ Goal, 0-1, (Chelsea), Gianfranco Zola
🥅 | 70’ Goal, 0-2, (Chelsea), Gianfranco Zola
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 0-2 Chelsea

🟨 | Booking, Riccardo Scimeca

ON THIS DAY

Future Villa boss Roberto Di Matteo and future Villa assistant manager Steve Clarke lined up for Chelsea

Aston Villa

European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96

Chelsea

European Cup / Champions League: ❌
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 1970-71

FIXTURE HISTORY

Chelsea

Previous 5 vs. Chelsea: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟨

FIXTURE DETAILS

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

Season | 1996-97 |
Matchday | #23 |
League Game | #19 |
Manager Game | #104 |
Thursday, 26 December 1996

MATCH SUMMARY

Manager: Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Peterlee, 1994-1998
Referee: Paul Danson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Leicester, 1987-2005
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Score: 🟥 0-2
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
Last 5: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟥

MANAGERIAL RECORD

Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME

🕒 104 | 🟩 | 47 🟨 | 28 🟥 29 | 1.63

Villa Career Form:

Top 6

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Paul Danson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Leicester, 1987-2005
Matches Officiated: 5
🟩 : 1
🟨 : 3
🟥 : 1
🆘 : 1
Previous 5: 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟩
Last Match: 🟩 8 April 1996, Villa 3-0 Southampton, Villa Park.
Cards: 🟨 🟨 🟨

ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:

CARDS

Villa

🟨

Chelsea

🟨 🟨

TEAM NEWS

Villa name an unchanged line up.

TEAM STATS

Starting XI Average Age
| 25.98 |

Oldest Player
M Andy Townsend | 🇮🇪 | 33.45 |

Youngest Player
CB Riccardo Scimeca | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 21.55 |

MANAGER

Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Villa.gif

Aston Villa

GK Mark Bosnich | 🇦🇺 |
RB Fernando Nélson | 🇵🇹 |
CB Riccardo Scimeca | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
CB Ugo Ehiogu | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Alan Wright | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Steve Staunton | 🇮🇪 |
M Ian Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Mark Draper | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
M Andy Townsend | 🇮🇪 |
CF Dwight Yorke | 🇹🇹 |
CF Savo Milošević | 🇷🇸 | 🔁 |

MANAGER

Ruud Gullit | 🇳🇱 |

2509-2.png

Chelsea

GK Frode Grodås | 🇳🇴 |
RB Dan Petrescu | 🇷🇴 |
RB Steve Clarke | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 🟨 |
CB Michael Duberry | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Andy Myers | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
M Ruud Gullit | 🇳🇱 |
M Craig Burley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Roberto Di Matteo | 🇮🇹 |
M Eddie Newton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
CF Mark Hughes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
F Gianfranco Zola | 🇮🇹 | ⚽ | ⚽ |

Villa.gif

Not necessarily indicative of the actual matchday formation

SUBSTITUTES

Villa.gif

🔁 | CF Tommy Johnson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for CF Savo Milošević | 🇷🇸 | 61’ |
🔁 | M Saša Ćurčić | 🇷🇸 | for M Mark Draper | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 61’ |

SUBSTITUTES

2509-2.png

🔁 | LB Andy Myers | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | (LB Terry Phelan | 🇮🇪 |)

Villa.gif

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

Villa.gif

GK Michael Oakes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Carl Tiler | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Julian Joachim | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

2509-2.png

GK Kevin Hitchcock | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Erland Johnsen | 🇳🇴 |
CB Frank Sinclair | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Mark Nicholls | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Villa.gif

SQUAD STATS

Villa.gif

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 5/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 9/16

MATCHDAY SQUAD

Villa.gif

SQUAD STATS

2509-2.png

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 6/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 9/16

MATCHDAY SQUAD

2509-2.png

UNAVAILABLE

Villa.gif

Not recorded

UNAVAILABLE

Villa.gif

Not Recorded

Player Positions:

GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half


M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward

Match Symbols:

⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution

🟨 | Booking

🟥 | Sending off

🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game

DEBUT APPEARANCES

FINAL APPEARANCES

MATCH STATS

Not recorded

LEAGUE TABLE

2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

MATCHDAY PROGRAMME

MATCH QUOTES

"Bosnich could have done better with both goals. “The first was slightly deflected but he certainly should have dealt with the second goal long before there was any danger." Brian Little.

MATCH REPORT

Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. With thanks to Reach PLC. Digitised by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited. All rights reserved. Source: British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

*The Daily Mirror*
Friday, 27 December 1996

GIANFRANCO ZOLA added Aston Villa to his growing list of victims with a devastating display of world class finishing. The tiny Italian destroyed Villa's championship dream with a decisive two-goal burst in the space of just four minutes. It was the £4.5 million striker's first Premiership double since his arrival from Parma last month and more than enough to shatter Villa's five-match winning streak. Now, Chelsea boss Ruud Gullit is ready to make superstar striker Gianluca Vialli wait on the bench to make his first team return. Brian Little's side have seen their title odds slashed in the wake of Sunday's 5-0 demolition of Wimbledon's long unbeaten run. But all the title talk was coming from Gullit's revitalised side after soccer's latest superstar import had restored London pride. Zola, playing the first Christmas soccer of his career, was given the perfect introduction to festive football by Villa's generous defence. First he was allowed to cut across from the right before delivering a low 65th-minute shot which beat keeper Mark Bosnich with the aid of a slight deflection off Ugo Ehiogu. And four minutes later, Zola was first to react to another Bosnich blunder when the Australian keeper hesitated and then missed as he came out to collect a back-header from Fernando Nelson. The Chelsea hot-shot was left all on his own at an acute angle, but didn't even hesitate before squeezing his shot inside the near post for his fourth goal in seven games in English football. Little complained: "Bosnich could have done better with both goals. The first was slightly deflected but he certainly should have dealt with the second goal long before there was any danger." Gullit, just as pleased with his side's first clean sheet in 17 games, was full of praise for his latest signing. "The rest of the team have been supplying the bullets and he's our big gun to finish them off," he said. "His first couple of weeks were always going to be difficult, but now he has moved into a house, has settled in and is beginning to feel appreciated by everyone else here. "The other players like the fact that even though he is such a very good player technically, he is still prepared to work hard, run back and do his fair share of defending." But just as crucial to this victory was Gullit's own role in the middle of a three-man defence. Deputising for the suspended Frank Leboeuf Gullet showed the class that made him the world's greatest player to blunt Villa's previously rampant attack. Villa, looking to establish a club record sixth successive Premiership victory, managed just one real effort on goal.

All Videos

All Videos

All Videos
Search video...
Villa Stunned! 🔥 | Aston Villa 2-4 Olympiacos | UEFA Europa Conference League Semi-Final Highlights

Villa Stunned! 🔥 | Aston Villa 2-4 Olympiacos | UEFA Europa Conference League Semi-Final Highlights

05:32
Play Video
VAR Denies Blues Comeback Win 🤯 | Aston Villa 2-2 Chelsea | Premier League Highlights

VAR Denies Blues Comeback Win 🤯 | Aston Villa 2-2 Chelsea | Premier League Highlights

03:00
Play Video
🥶 Three points against the Cherries 🍒 | Aston Villa 3-1 Bournemouth | HIGHLIGHTS

🥶 Three points against the Cherries 🍒 | Aston Villa 3-1 Bournemouth | HIGHLIGHTS

02:13
Play Video
FULL PENALTY SHOOTOUT | Aston Villa beat Lille on pens to reach Europa Conference League Semi-Finals

FULL PENALTY SHOOTOUT | Aston Villa beat Lille on pens to reach Europa Conference League Semi-Finals

14:04
Play Video
bottom of page