Aston Villa 3-3 Preston North End: Chester sent-off, Bruce doomed

We witnessed peak Aston Villa on October 2nd, 2018. This was a draw that epitomizes a decade of suffering.

Steve Bruce’s must-win home match vs. Preston North End was everything he dreamed for…until it wasn’t.

A revamped starting XI (sort of) from the one that drew with Bristol City on Friday, delivered an exciting first-half with two well-taken goals from Jonathan Kodjia and Tammy Abraham.

After dropping starting goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland for veteran third-choice Mark Bunn, and leaving Mile Jedinak off the eighteen outright, Aston Villa were able to keep Preston off the score-sheet during that time. The defensive lapses continued, but not even script writers could pen a more typical Aston Villa meltdown.

Preston controlled play for the opening ten minutes of the second-half. Manager Alex Neil brought on former Villan Daniel Johnson on at the break and it all went downhill from there, starting with Villa’s captain. James Chester received a straight red for clumsily running over a Preston attacker through on Bunn’s net. Bruce called the decision a “disgrace” after the match:

Aye, it was a soft, innocuous foul, but probably a correct red card nonetheless. James Chester will miss his first league game ever for Aston Villa this weekend. It’s his third season.

Johnson converted the spot-kick to make it 2-1. With nominal centre-back Mile Jedinak completely out of the squad, presumably because of rest, James Bree entered to partner Axel Tuanzebe, with Abraham sacrificed in the attack. It took another 20 minutes, but Preston equalized through another substitute, Paul Gallagher, who barely made his way on the pitch before scoring a sneaky free kick.

By that time, Bruce made the curious decision to remove Jonathan Kodjia for Yannick Bolasie. This left Aston Villa with a back-line of 3 right-backs (4, depending on your view of Tuanzebe), 3 central midfielders with hybrid holding/wing player Birkir Bjarnason in the No. 6 role…and Bolasie up top.

The away crowd was rocking at that point, but it got even better as Louis Moult headed home Preston’s third unanswered in the 86th-minute. But the football gods had other plans as Yannick Bolaise swept home Villa’s equalizer. THEN, the unthinkable happened. Birkir Bjarnason was pummeled inside the box from a cross.

Aston Villa earned a penalty in the 90+5′ minute, tied 3-3. The result? Peak Aston Villa. The most Villa of Villa things that could ever happen to Villa.

Glenn Whelan, for reasons unknown to any sane human, took the penalty. It was saved.