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The last thing Steven Gerrard needed was to encounter a goalkeeper who chose this occasion to produce the arguably best performance of his Premier League career. Kepa Arrizabalaga has not had too many such afternoons since his £72m arrival four years ago but denied Aston Villa with an outstanding exhibition of his art, two first-half saves from Jacob Ramsey and Danny Ings taking the breath away. Those were far from his only interventions and they meant Graham Potter, whose side put in the worst performance of his tenure, could hail a fifth straight win even if Chelsea hardly deserved it.They prevailed because Villa, unable to apply the decisive touch at one end, self-destructed at the other. A glaring mistake from Tyrone Mings gave Mason Mount the opener on a plate; Mings and Emiliano Martínez then both had cause for dissatisfaction with their actions around the second-half free-kick, albeit superbly executed, from which the same player killed proceedings off. Chelsea’s revival continues apace but the embattled Gerrard saw the prospect of a transformative outcome slip away. Continue reading...