Douglas Luiz denied by VAR as Aston Villa take Chelsea to FA Cup replay

On Tuesday night, Premier League clubs saw the unhinged attacking potential from a Mauricio Pochettino Chelsea side. Albeit against Championship opposition, the Blues hit that killer blow to head to a Wembley final. Tonight, they survived a late onslaught to secure an FA Cup replay against Aston Villa in a goalless draw.

It was not the ruthless goal frenzy the Chelsea fans would have dreamed of seeing yet again, but it was a further sign of progress under the tutelage of their Argentine head coach.

This game was a rematch of the 2000 FA Cup final and pitted the Premier League team with the youngest average squad age, Chelsea, against one from Aston Villa which has the top-flight’s fifth oldest.

That youthful energy was called upon yet again by Pochettino having had less than 72 hours to prepare for this fixture after dismantling Middlesbrough 6-1 to reach the Carabao Cup final on Tuesday.

Villa, in contrast, have not been in action since 14 January due to the mid-season Premier League break. Both sides began the match at an electrifying pace, with Villa’s superb counterattacking ability nullified by the controlled possession-based style adopted by Pochettino’s Blues.

Chelsea have been in decent form at Stamford Bridge, with the west Londoners unbeaten in their last nine matches at home in all competitions. Noni Madueke spoke in midweek about making Chelsea’s home ground a fortress, and their home form in the FA Cup suggests that is already the case, with the Blues having come away victorious from their past eight Cup ties here.

Villa have won their past two matches against Chelsea, both away from home, and Unai Emery’s men thought they were on their way again when they seemed to take the lead in the 12th minute. A well-crafted Villa set piece led to Moussa Diaby’s long-range strike deflecting off youngster Alfie Gilchrist into the path of Douglas Luiz, with the Brazilian tapping into an empty net.

VAR would come to the home side’s rescue though as the Villa midfielder was adjudged to have used his hand, with referee Robert Jones having no choice but to disallow the goal.

The 6,000 travelling away supporters made their opinions heard with grunts of displeasure, which were immediately drowned out by cheers of relief from the home fans.The fast-paced nature of the game continued minutes later, with Emiliano Martínez called upon to brilliantly save Madueke’s rasping shot. Moments after the Argentine spared the blushes of teammate Clément Lenglet, denying Cole Palmer from point-blank range.

Madueke and Raheem Sterling were parading along the Chelsea wing with relative ease, Matty Cash and Àlex Moreno struggling to deal with the explosive footwork of the duo. However a lack of attacking impotence was clear to see, with Pochettino’s side unable to create enough clear-cut opportunities despite dominating proceedings.

Martínez got down well to deny a Benoît Badiashile header on the stroke of half-time, but that was the closest Chelsea had come to an opener since the 16th minute. Immediately after, John McGinn blazed over from the subsequent Villa counter. This attacking display from Chelsea was a far cry from the rest of the campaign, which has already seen them usurp their goal tally from last season.

Sterling resumed his tirade of Cash after the interval, with the Poland international unable to contain Chelsea’s No 7 who was clearly the home side’s main output on the night. Douglas Luiz had the first meaningful attempt of the second period for either side, but his well-hit effort was easily collected by Djordje Petrovic in the Chelsea goal.

The further the match went on goalless, the feistier the atmosphere from both sets of supporters became. In the 67th minute Chelsea missed a golden chance to break the deadlock. Martínez’s poor clearance hit the back of Palmer, however the usually nerveless youngster completely mis-hit his shot and it trickled back to the Villa goalkeeper to the sound of anguish and despair from the Chelsea faithful.

Petrovic then palmed the ball away well from an Ollie Watkins strike 74 minutes in, before the Serbian superbly denied Cash’s fierce left-footed effort as Emery’s men cranked up the pressure on their hosts.

Something synonymous with Chelsea before the turn of the year was their ability to lose control of matches in which they were the dominant side. Fortunately for Pochettino, his players showed maturity to hold on to at least secure a replay.