Kepa Arrizabalaga And Mason Mount Inspire Chelsea To Fifth Straight Win

Mason Mount scored twice as Chelsea won 2-0 at Aston Villa to record a fifth straight win under Graham Potter. Kepa Arrizabalaga was also a star man.

Aston Villa 0-2 Chelsea

Mason Mount scored twice as Chelsea won 2-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday to record a fifth straight win under new manager Graham Potter.

Mount punished an awful Tyrone Mings header to fire Chelsea in front on six minutes.

The England midfielder then doubled his tally with a wicked free-kick midway through the second half.

Mason Mount fires Chelsea into the lead after a costly mistake by Tyrone Mings.

📺 @peacock #AVLCHE pic.twitter.com/Iw2uN4hBYD

— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) October 16, 2022

Mason Mount AGAIN!

He extends the Chelsea lead with a beautiful free kick.

📺 @peacock #AVLCHE pic.twitter.com/fp2PIK91ks

— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) October 16, 2022

But Mount was arguably not Chelsea's MVP at Villa Park.

Goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga was in contention for that honor after making seven saves en route to his fourth consecutive clean sheet.

Arrizabalaga's best save came just after the half-hour mark when he pushed a Danny Ings header over the bar from point-blank range.

The Spanish stopper had earlier produced an incredible triple-save to deny John McGinn, Jacob Ramsey and Ings.

Kepa's triple save was mental 👏🏻🤯 pic.twitter.com/PwkJMyz2lo

— Blue Season News (@YourBlueSeason) October 16, 2022

An absolutely FANTASTIC stop by Kepa!

📺 @peacock #AVLCHE pic.twitter.com/M5JawOlyMS

— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) October 16, 2022

7 - Kepa Arrizabalaga made seven saves while keeping a clean sheet against Aston Villa, his most saves without conceding in his top-flight league career. The Spaniard was expected to concede at least two goals based on the placement of the on-target shots he faced. Rejuvenated. pic.twitter.com/RPJNZeqImR

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 16, 2022

3.2 - Despite only playing in three matches, Kepa Arrizabalaga has prevented more goals than any other goalkeeper in the Premier League this season with his saves (3.2).

3.2 - Kepa
2.7 - Alisson
2.7 - Pickford
2.6 - Neto
2.2 - Pope

Barrier. pic.twitter.com/P1YMNoRTcc

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 16, 2022

Chelsea manager Potter praised Kepa and Mount after the game.

Potter told chelseafc.com: "Kepa's contributing to us with clean sheets, he's contributing to how we want to play and the environment about the place. I've got to say all three goalkeepers we have here have been really good in that regard, supporting each other providing good competition and that keeps everybody's level up.

"Kepa has played at a fantastic level today, he's made some brilliant saves which kept us in the game and allowed us to win the points, so I'm really pleased with him.

"For Mason I think it's about the team, about his role in the team. He works so hard for the team always. He's got the quality, he's got the ability to score and assist. Sometimes players go through little dips if the team isn't functioning that well and maybe the team wasn't functioning as well as it maybe can.

"As a result of that individuals don't play to the same level. But the effort's always been there from my perspective and once he can get into the space we want to get him into, he has the quality to execute and we saw that today."

Chelsea's win saw them rise to fourth place in the Premier League table with 19 points from nine matches.

Kepa Arrizabalaga and Mason Mount pictured embracing after starring in Chelsea's 2-0 win at Aston Villa :: IMAGO/PRiME Media Images/Andy Rowland