Aston Villa suffered their third loss of the season with a 1-0 defeat at home to West Ham United, but Calum Chambers put in a decent performance after being thrown in the deep end by Steven Gerrard.
The 27-year-old struggled in Tuesday’s EFL Cup win over Bolton Wanderers and wasn’t expected to start on the weekend, but Tyrone Mings’ absence meant Gerrard had no one other than Chambers to start alongside Ezri Konsa.
Only Matty Cash turned over possession (8) more than the former Arsenal defender (3) while only Konsa (70) and Boubacar Kamara (70) made more passes (68).
John Townley of Birmingham Live gave Chambers a player rating of 6/10 and felt his performance was on-par with Matty Cash and Lucas Digne’s.
Against West Ham, the 27-year-old played for 90 minutes, had 78 touches, won one aerial duel, completed 88.2% of his 68 passes, made two tackles, blocked one shot, gave away two fouls, had three interceptions and made one clearance.
It remains to be seen if Mings will return in time for Villa’s trip to face Arsenal on August 31, but Chambers has shown he can do a job if called upon.
