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Game #4450

Aston Villa

Thursday, 26 December 1996

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Lost

5th (-1)

Last 5: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟥

Premier League

Chelsea

Villa Park

Attendance: 39,339

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

Aston Villa

0-2

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Chelsea

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Assist(s) | None

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

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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

Match Statistics

Not recorded

Goal ⚽, Assist 🔥, Goal Conceded 🥅, Injury 🚑, Booking 🟨, Sending off 🟥, Comment 🗒️, ❗ Villa Chance,❗❗Huge Villa Chance, 💥 Opposition action, 🎥 VAR, 🆘 Referee error, ❌ Missed pen, disallowed goal, player retires from field of play, 🟢 Debut, 🔴 Final appearance, 🕒 Half time, Full time, 🔁 Substitution

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

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ON THIS DAY
Thursday, 26 December 1996
  • Villa lose for the first time in 6 Premier League games under Brian Little and fall back to 5th in the table as Chelsea win at Villa Park.

  • Dwight Yorke makes his 225th appearance in a Villa shirt (185 Starts) to make it W98 D56 L71, 73 Goals, 33 Assists and 2 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 2.12 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

  • Future Villa boss Roberto Di Matteo and future Villa assistant manager Steve Clarke line up for Chelsea.

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

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DEBUT APPEARANCES

None

FINAL APPEARANCES

None

Seasons | 🕒 Games | ✅ Starts (🔁 Subs) | ⚽ Goals | 🔥 Assists | 🇺 Unused | Player Number |

Aston Villa

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

Chelsea

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

FIXTURE HISTORY
Chelsea
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Previous 5 vs. Chelsea: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟨

Games 🕒, Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Goals Scored ⚽, Goals Conceded 🥅

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

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

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🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

MATCH SUMMARY
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Manager: Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Peterlee, 1994-1998
Referee: Paul Danson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Leicester, 1987-1997
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Score: 🟥 0-2
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
Last 5: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟥

Scorers
Timeline
On This Day
Trophies
Fixture
Manager
MANAGERIAL RECORD
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Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1994-1998

🕒 104 | 🟩 | 47 🟨 | 28 🟥 29 | 1.63

Villa Career Form:

Top 6

Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1994-1998

Games 🕒, Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Points per Game

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

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MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Paul Danson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Leicester, 1987-1997

VAR PROFILE (from 2021)

CARDS
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🟨 Riccardo Scimeca

CARDS
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🟨 Steve Clarke
🟨 Eddie Newton

Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Notably poor performance 🆘, Cards 🟨 Booking, Cards 🟥 Sending off, Disallowed ❌ Goal disallowed, ⚽ Penalty for, 🥅 Penalty against, ❌ Penalty Disallowed

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

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TEAM NEWS
TEAM STATS

Villa name an unchanged line up.

Starting XI Average Age
| 25.98 |

Oldest Player
M Andy Townsend | 🇮🇪 | 33.45 |

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

Referee

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

MANAGER

Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1994-1998

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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 | 🇳🇱 |

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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 | 🇮🇹 | ⚽ | ⚽ |

Line Ups

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

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

SUBSTITUTES

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

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Substitutes

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

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

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

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

Squad Bios

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

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

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

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

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

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

MATCHDAY SQUAD
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MATCHDAY SQUAD
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🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

UNAVAILABLE
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Not recorded

UNAVAILABLE
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Not Recorded

Unavailable
LEAGUE TABLE
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Tables & Programmes
🟩 12 Apr 2025, Villa 3-0 Southampton, St Mary's TBL.png
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
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2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

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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.
Quotes

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

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MATCH REPORTS

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)

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*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.
Reports

🟥 26 Dec 1996, Villa 0-2 Chelsea, Villa Park

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MATCH VIDEO
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