Game #4560
Aston Villa
Sunday, 21 March 1999
Lost
7th (-1)
Last 5: 🟨 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟥
Premier League
Attendance: 39,217
Chelsea
Villa Park
Aston Villa
0-3
Chelsea
Assist(s) | None
MATCH SUMMARY
Villa's fourth consecutive defeat and eight in nine games in all competitions sees John Gregory's side fall to seventh in the table as a horrendous two months takes it toll on the one time leaders.
KEY MAN
John Gregory, fourth consecutive defeat and eighth in nine games in all competitions, Sunday, 21 March 1999.
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Copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission.
MATCH TIMELINE
Sunday, 21 March 1999
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 0-0 Chelsea
🥅 | 59’ Goal, 0-1, (Chelsea), Tore André Flo
🔁 | 74’ Sub off, Stan Collymore, Sub on, Julian Joachim
🔁 | 74’ Sub off, Dion Dublin, Sub on, Paul Merson
🔁 | 83’ Sub off, Lee Hendrie, Sub on, Ian Taylor
🥅 | 86’ Goal, 0-2, (Chelsea), Bjarne Goldbaek
🥅 | 89’ Goal, 0-3, (Chelsea), Tore André Flo
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 0-3 Chelsea
🟨 | Booking, Alan Thompson
ON THIS DAY
Villa’s wretched, insipid and embarrassing form continues with a fourth successive defeat and one win in the last 10 League games. Talking of wretched, insipid and embarrassing, Stan Collymore played his final game for Villa aged 28 before moving on to Leicester City nearly 12 months later on a free transfer in February 2000. Villa had paid Liverpool £9,450,000 for Collymore and he went on to make 61 appearances and scored 15 goals.
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: 1997-98
FIXTURE HISTORY
Chelsea
Previous 5 vs. Chelsea: 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟥 🟥
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 1998-99 |
Matchday | #37 |
League Game | #30 |
Manager Game | #50 |
Sunday, 21 March 1999
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: John Gregory | 🏴 | Scunthorpe, 1998-2002
Referee: Graham Barber | 🏴 | Tring, 1994-2004
Kick off: 12.30pm
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
FT Score: 🟥 0-3
Last 5: 🟨 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟥
MANAGERIAL RECORD
John Gregory | 🏴 |
GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME
🕒 50 | 🟩 | 26 🟨 | 8 🟥 16 | 1.72
Villa Career Form:
Top 6
ALL THE MATCHES LED BY:
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Graham Barber | 🏴 | Tring, 1994-2004
Previous 5: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟥 🟩
Last Match: 🟩 28 December 1998, Villa 2-1, Wednesday, Villa Park.
Cards: 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨
ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:
CARDS
Villa
🟨
Chelsea
🟨 🟨 🟨
TEAM NEWS
Mark Draper and Paul Merson are replaced by Steve Watson and Dion Dublin.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 25.72 |
Oldest Player |
CF Dion Dublin | 🏴 | 29.93 |
Youngest Player |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴 | 18.08 |
MANAGER
John Gregory | 🏴 |
Aston Villa
GK Mark Bosnich | 🇦🇺 |
RB Steve Watson | 🏴 |
CB Riccardo Scimeca | 🏴 |
CB Gareth Southgate | 🏴 |
LB Alan Wright | 🏴 |
M Steve Stone | 🏴 |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴 |
M Lee Hendrie | 🏴 | 🔁 |
M Alan Thompson | 🏴 | 🟨 |
CF Stan Collymore | 🏴 | 🔁 |
CF Dion Dublin | 🏴 | 🔁 |
MANAGER
Gianluca Vialli | 🇮🇹 |
Chelsea
GK Ed De Goey | 🇳🇱 |
RB Albert Ferrer | 🇪🇸 | 🟨 |
RB Dan Petrescu | 🇷🇴 | 🔁 |
CB Frank Leboeuf | 🇫🇷 |
CB Marcel Desailly | 🇫🇷 | 🟨 |
LB Graeme Le Saux | 🏴 |
M Dennis Wise | 🏴 | 🟨 |
M Jody Morris | 🏴 |
W Bjarne Goldbæk | 🇩🇰 | ⚽ |
F Gianfranco Zola | 🇮🇹 |
CF Tore André Flo | 🇳🇴 | ⚽ | ⚽ | 🔁 |
Not necessarily indicative of the actual matchday formation
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | CF Julian Joachim | 🏴 | for CF Stan Collymore | 74’ |
🔁 | M Paul Merson | 🏴 | for CF Dion Dublin | 74’ |
🔁 | M Ian Taylor | 🏴 | for M Lee Hendrie | 🏴 | 83’ |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | RB Dan Petrescu | 🇷🇴 | (CB Bernard Lambourde | 🇫🇷 |)
🔁 | CF Tore André Flo | 🇳🇴 | (CF Mark Nicholls | 🏴 |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Michael Oakes | 🏴 |
M Mark Draper | 🏴 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Kevin Hitchcock | 🏴 |
CB Michael Duberry | 🏴 |
M Eddie Newton | 🏴 |
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 10/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 15/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 3/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 7/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Not recorded
UNAVAILABLE
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
🔴 CF Stan Collymore | 🏴 |
MATCH STATS
Not recorded
LEAGUE TABLE
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
MATCHDAY QUOTES
"If the team which Gregory has assembled were as single-minded as their mentor, the pronounced loss of form which has seen them drop like a stone could possibly have been avoided."
*The Guardian*
Monday, 22 March 1999
*Villa hopes go with the Flo*
Rumours of Chelsea’s demise would appear to have been exaggerated; rumours of Aston Villa’s have not. It was almost at the behest of Villa that Chelsea yesterday reminded those who were doubting their pedigree that there are still at least three clubs capable of winning the Premiership this season.
An emphatic victory lifts them back into third place on to the coat-tails of Arsenal and Manchester United and reinforces the belief that they will not give up the chase.
“We are still in a good position to finish our season well, although it is not entirely in our hands as the two teams above us are really flying,” said the Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli.
In recent weeks Vialli and Villa’s John Gregory have both been informed at regular intervals that their clubs’ Premiership aspirations had been reduced to rubble. But both men are natural optimists and, if the team which Gregory has assembled were as single-minded as their mentor, the pronounced loss of form which has seen them drop like a stone could possibly have been avoided.
Yesterday morning, as the bells of local churches rang out their opposition to such an ungodly kick-off time, Villa’s limitations were again laid bare.
On New Year’s Day they led the Premiership. This morning, after a calamitous sequence of results, they are so far off the pace that Gregory’s Holy Grail is no longer the title but mere European qualification.
The statistics are grim indeed: one point from 24, no league win since mid-January, five consecutive home defeats - all that and a support which has reached the point of open rebellion.
Chelsea won in a canter, their attacks breaking over the Villa defence like waves over a seafront wall. Whatever the permutation, whatever the personnel, they are still arguably the most attractive side in the country.
Although Vialli has worked tirelessly to eradicate the “maverick factor”, he has wisely made no attempt to rein in those free spirits whose subtle skills have carried the new Chelsea to the forefront of the English game.
The real glory of Vialli’s side is its ability to move seamlessly between defending and attacking, a complex procedure which seems sometimes to be undertaken more by instinct than design.
Smarting from seven defeats in their previous eight games, Villa proffered such feeble resistance in the opening quarter of an hour that Chelsea should have been over the hill and disappearing into the distance long before a subdued audience had cleared its head of the previous night.
Chelsea cut through the sleepy forest of Villa defenders like piano wire through butter and it was only ill fortune and poor finishing which prevented them from amassing a decisive advantage before half-time.
Gianfranco Zola and Dennis Wise both spurned presentable opportunities but sandwiched in between those indiscretions was an awful miss by Tore Andre Flo, who raced on to Bjarne Goldbaek’s pass only to drive the ball into the legs of Mark Bosnich when scoring appeared easier. But Flo is both patient and persistent and, nearing the hour, he was to atone, striking the blow which was to hole Villa below the waterline. Released down the inside-right channel by Albert Ferrer’s intelligent pass, he cut inside the penalty area, and inside his marker, before steering a precise drive just inside a post.
Unforgivably, if predictably, Villa promptly abandoned all hope and it was no great surprise to see Chelsea pouring salt into gaping wounds as the game neared its conclusion. With five minutes remaining Goldbaek sent a fierce, rising drive into the roof of the Villa net and there was even time for Flo to collect another goal from an acute angle after neat work by the quietly impressive Jodi Morris.
“There can be no running away from our problems. We shall just have to confront them head-on,” said Gregory.
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)