The Chelsea players were left incensed and crowded Craig Pawson at the full-time whistle. The Blues had fought back from two goals down away at Aston Villa and were forced to settle for a point.

Axel Disasi thought he had sealed victory for Chelsea, managed by Mauricio Pochettino back then in April 2024, with a 95th-minute header but the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) recommended an on-field review and Pawson ruled that Benoit Badiashile had committed a foul in the build-up. "They didn't see a foul on the pitch and then VAR changed the decision of the referee," Pochettino told reporters at full-time.

"For me, that was a normal challenge. The decision was there and that's it. For me, it damaged a little bit the Premier League and English [football]. If we want to be the best league in the world it should be protecting the spectacle and the decision. It damaged myself, damaged my team, my players and my fans."

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The Chelsea team had to be dragged away from the referee with the majority of the players feeling aggrieved by the costly decision. Chelsea went two goals down in a torrid first-half at Villa Park. Marc Cucurella scored an early own goal before Morgan Rogers fired past Djordje Petrovic from the edge of the box later in the first period in the Midlands.

A decision from Pochettino at half-time changed it all, however, in a positive way for the Blues - who were beaten by five goals to nil away at Arsenal just five days prior. Cucurella, the man who had given Villa the lead on four minutes, started to invert from left-back and add an extra body to the Chelsea midfield when the visitors had the ball at Villa Park.

Suddenly Chelsea's play transformed. The possession grew for the visitors and what they were doing with the ball became more meaningful. In the second-half, Chelsea were a completely different kind of animal; scoring twice to level the game through Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher.

So, why did it take so long for Pochettino to invert Cucurella? "To evolve tactically, you first of all need to fix problems," the Argentine said later in the season, with the majority of the Blues' issues on the pitch seemingly solved with one tactical tweak. "You can't evolve tactically if you are not competitive, if you don't have the legs to move or be aggressive.

"You always need to build the house step by step. I think we are in a moment where the team have realised that to compete is different from to play football. They had to understand how we need to compete in the Premier League.

"Obviously, for a young team, you need to set and apply the principles. After that, we have the capacity and the experience to evolve in different ways in the game. Because we have already learned a lot about how to compete and you can see now a different solution."

The move from Pochettino to bring Cucurella into the centre allowed Gallagher to push forward and occupy almost a No.10 position. That in turn allowed Cole Palmer to essentially free roam from the right-hand side - something he did so well in the 2023/24 season.

What followed was a spectacular end to the campaign for the Blues. Pochettino led his men to five straight victories in the Premier League to wrap up what had been a disappointing season overall. Wins against Tottenham, West Ham United, Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Bournemouth had Pochettino seemingly standing in good stead for his end-of-season review as head coach.

But as we all know now, that was not the case. Pochettino was relieved of his duties and replaced by Enzo Maresca for the 2024/25 season. If we fast forward to the present day, a trip to Villa Park has equal importance to this Chelsea team - albeit a very different Chelsea side.

With just two wins from their last nine matches in the Premier League, there is immense pressure on Maresca and his players to get something from the match against Aston Villa on Saturday evening. There is nothing to suggest this is make-or-break for Maresca but after a heavy defeat at Brighton, it does feel like Chelsea need to get something from this game to prevent toxicity creeping back in. There have been big signs in recent weeks that the atmosphere has taken a turn for the worse.