Chelsea the latest club to join Arsenal in dark arts tactics with huddle at Villa Park 

Gamesmanship is a word that is sweeping through the Premier League like storm lately. League leaders Arsenal have had that label follow them all season, but now people are pointing the finger at Chelsea after they were spotted using a bit of chicanery at Villa Park.

Chelsea´s halftime huddle

There was a time in which only lesser clubs felt the need to use time to their advantage. Whether than be by incessant fouling, delayed restarts, or players milking the clock while getting back to their feet following a foul. The dark arts have been a part of the beautiful game for ages, but now it seems that clubs that are towards the top of the table are using these tactics to their advantage as well.

Chelsea are the latest club accused of trying to frustrate their opponents by holding up play, but the Blues chose to do so out of the halftime break when the clock was stopped. Aston Villa were set to kickoff the second half, but all of the sudden the entire XI on the pitch circled around the center circle, huddling around the ball, and preventing Ollie Watkins and Amadou Onana from restarting the second half.

It maybe not be as extreme as the 30 minutes of time wasted by Arsenal in Brighton, but Villa was understandably in a hurry to put the ball back in play after allowing a stoppage time goal and took a 2-1 lead right before the referee blew the halftime whistle. Chelsea made sure that the home side was not going to put the ball in play before some last minute chat.

Rosenoir´s squad showing unity

Chelsea manager Louis Rosenoir was asked about the huddle by the TNT Sports post match crew and he claimed, “It’s come from them. They want to show unity. They want to show strength and togetherness. It’s not anything to do with the opposition. We are a young group and the biggest thing is help them grow in terms in that kind of stuff. I think its massive. To be successful you need to be a team. You need to be together,” said Rosenoir.

Chelsea went on to win 4-1 with second half goals from Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro who completed his hatrick. With the win on Wednesday night, the Blues have jumped Liverpool for a top five spot with nine match days to go. They will take a break from the league campaign and set sights on their FA Cup match over the weekend in Wrexham.

Rosenoir took over at Stamford Bridge on January 6th after Enzo Maresca was axed just after the New Year. He has led his squad to five wins, two draws and two losses since his appointment, and has Chelsea alive in the FA Cup and on to the Round of 16 of Champions League where they will play Paris St. German in the first of two legs from Parc Des Princes next week.

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