Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is pleased with the impact of January signings Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio after they earned a vital 2-1 win over Chelsea.
Rashford arrived on loan from Manchester United and Asensio came from Paris St Germain and the pair combined twice to inspire a come-from-behind Premier League win at Villa Park.
After falling behind to Enzo Fernandez’s early opener, Rashford was thrown on at half-time and quickly set up Asensio’s equaliser.
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Rashford was again the creator in the 89th minute as his cross was turned in by Asensio, whose saveable shot was inexplicably let in by Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen.
“The idea when we signed these players was to help us, to improve us, to show their capacity and skills, the commitment to show their work here we need,” Emery said.
“We have to set them with a task but then they have to play with their skills. I think today was very good how we saw in the second half, the performance of Marcus Rashford and Marco.
“Marco is a very good player, playing as a number 10. He can play in both positions but he can play trying to get assists and scoring goals. It was fantastic how he played.
“I think the most important thing is how they are taking responsibility in the commitment we need. Today they did fantastic (sic).
“I think today and in the last matches as well, they are getting to the level we want. They have the experiences at the highest level. Be it Marcus, Donyell [Malen] who played in the Champions League final and Asensio.”
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca says he will not lose faith in Jorgensen, despite his costly howler.
The Blues have had goalkeeper issues all season, with Jorgensen recently coming in to replace Robert Sanchez.
But Jorgensen made matters worse as he let Asensio’s shot slip through his grasp as Chelsea suffered an expensive defeat in the race for Champions League qualification.
“The keeper position is the delicate one, the striker can miss a goal but it doesn’t look so important, but then a keeper makes a mistake it is always clear, everyone can see that,” Maresca said.
“In this moment, it is not a mistake I am going to change my idea about Filip.”
It was a fourth defeat from five games in all competitions and Maresca said it was the toughest of the season.
“This is probably for me the toughest defeat of the season, the reaction from Brighton and the performance has been very good but at this moment it is not enough.
“We didn’t deserve to lose, in this league we have to be clinical. The difference is in the box. At 1-0 we had chances and we didn’t take them and at 1-1 we had chances and didn’t take them.
“At the end anything that can happen and unfortunately we lost the game.”
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