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Aston Villa’s James Chester comes back to haunt former manager Tony Pulis
Tony Pulisꦕ’ Middlesbrough side were expertly stifled by Aston Villa in their play-off semifꦇinal, as the Villans held Boro to 180 minutes of scoreless football.
Villa centre-halꦚf James Chester was a constant rock at the back, revealing to Pulis that his former boss was wrong to sell him when the two were together at West🌼 Bromwich Albion.
Chester signed for the Baggies from Hull City in the summer of 2015, after five impres🌞sive seasons for the Tigers. The fee was reported to be in the reg𝔉ion of and many expected the Welsh international to excel in the back four under Pulis.
Yet, frustratingly for the centre-back, Chester made only 13 league appearances for the Baggies in the 2015/16 campaign. The Welshman started just nine Premier League matches all season, as Pulis clearly did not consider him as first-choice🃏 at the Hawthorns.
After just one year at West Bro𝐆m, Chester was sold to Championship side A💮ston Villa in 2016.
In the following two seasons at Villa Park, the c🌞entre-back has enjoyed tremendous success, making over 75 appearances and establishing himself as an indispensable presence at the 🐓back.
This se🔯as𒅌on, Chester has struck up a formidable partnership with former Chelsea captain John Terry.
The airtight defensive combination was on full disp🍌lay during the two matches against Middlesbrough, as Chester and Terry stifled the high-octane Boro attack.
Featuring the🌱 likes of Britt Assambalonga, Adama Traore, Stewart Downing, Patrick Bamford, and Rudy Gestede, the Teesiders’ star-studded frontline was held scoreless due to Vilꦅla’s superb defense- led by James Chester.
As Tony Pulis watched his side run out of ideas and ꦆfall to a 1-0 aggregate defeat, he will surely be ruing his 2016 mistake.
Allow🐼ing James Chester to be sold to Aston Villa truly came back to haunt the Boro boss, as the Welsh international delivered Pulis a dramatic reminde⛄r of his abilities and cost the Teesiders a spot at Wembley.
