Marvelous Nakamba Plays As Aston Villa Beat Chelsea
Zimbabwean international footballer Marvelous Nakamba was a late substitute as Aston Villa rounded off their mid-season training camp in the Middle East with a 1-0 victory over Chelsea.
The former Club Brugge defensive midfielder was introduced in the last six minutes, replacing captain John McGinn.
McGinn netted the only goal of the game in the seventh minute at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi, as Villa stepped up their match fitness in readiness for the return of Premier League action in two weeks’ time.
Victory for the Villans saw them lift the inaugural CBF Al Wahda Challenge Cup, closing the curtain on their trip ahead of a home-friendly fixture against Spanish side Villarreal on Thursday.
Jorginho, Marc Cucurella and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were among the starters for the Blues with the latter joined in attack by Armando Broja and Hutchinson.
There were a number of new faces in a youthful starting 11 including Josh Brooking, Bashir Humphreys and Alfie Gilchrist at the back, while Lewis Hall and Charlie Webster joined captain Jorginho in midfield.
Line ups:
Chelsea: Bettinelli; Brooking (Elliott 73), Humphreys, Gilchrist (Mothersille 64), Cucurella, Webster, Jorginho (c), Hall, Hutchinson, Broja (Rankine 25) (Burstow 88), Aubameyang (Casadei 64); Unused sub: Beach;
Aston Villa: Olsen; A. Young, Konsa (Chambers 64), Mings, Digne (Augustinsson 64); Kamara, Luiz (O’Reilly 83), McGinn (Nakamba 83), Raikhy (K. Young h/t), Bailey (Ings 64), Watkins (Archer 64); Unused subs: Marschall, Zych, Feeney, Bogarde, Revan
