Dean Smith praised the efforts of his squad after they picked up their fourth Premier League point in three days.
Aston Villa followed up their Boxing Day win against Crystal Palace with a strong display at Chelsea, with Anwar El Ghazi’s second half equaliser earning them a draw.
While the Blues made six changes for the game, Smith felt his decision to make only one enforced change to his starting XI had paid dividends.
He said: “I chose not to rotate and get fresh legs into the team because I had to weigh that up with momentum and confidence, and momentum and confidence wins all day long for me.
“Players want to play football. I looked them in the eye today before I picked the team and they all wanted to play. It’s a team that want to be in.
He added: “It was a good battling result, it’s a tough place to come. We expected them to rotate the squad after the result at Arsenal and they’ve got a very deep squad, so we knew their quality would be there for all to see.
“I thought we started the game ever so well and for the first 20 minutes we were the better team – we created some chances and thwarted them.
“It was two even teams today and that’s pleasing with the squad they’ve assembled.”
The game at Stamford Bridge brought Villa’s 2020 schedule to a close, with a trip to Manchester United first up in the New Year.
Smith says his side can approach the game with plenty of confidence given the results they’ve achieved so far this term.
He said: “We’re looking forward to it. We had a good result there last year with a good performance in a 2-2 draw.
“They’ve added to their squad since and they’re a strong team. With our results – against Liverpool, going to Arsenal, Leicester away and getting a point here – we’ve proven to ourselves that we can go and compete against anybody.
“We’ll have total respect for them, but we certainly won’t be fearing them.”
