Hard-Fought Aston Villa Victory Proves Jose Mourinho's Chelsea as Stingy as Ever

Two games into his Stamford Bridge return and already we've seen the best and worst that Jose Mourinho's Chelsea have to offer.

Well, actually, it depends on which side of the fence you're sitting.

The Blues' season opener on Sunday saw Mourinho's men tear into Hull City Tigers and control the game at will. When they wanted to punish their opponents they did, demonstrating a brand of football their owner Roman Abramovich has long craved.

The 2-0 scoreline that day wasn't entirely a true reflection of their dominance, but three days later it was a different story altogether when Aston Villa came to Stamford Bridge.

Sure, Chelsea may have taken the lead early on against Paul Lambert's side, but they exited the pitch after 90 minutes knowing that they were fortunate to take all three points, winning 2-1.

After being thrashed 8-0 in this fixture last term, Villa would have been forgiven for letting their heads drop when Antonio Luna deflected a Brad Guzan save into his own net after just seven minutes.

It was an unfortunate error, but the Villans fought their way back into contention. Christian Benteke added his third goal of the season during the first-half in stoppage time to draw level. However, a handball from John Terry late on could have very easily seen the visitors awarded a penalty.

To add salt to the wound, Branislav Ivanovic's elbow on Benteke had Villa's manager fuming when he wasn't sent off, only for the Serbian to later score Chelsea's winner in the 73rd minute.

Indeed, Villa have every right for feeling hard done by. For Mourinho, however, victory on Wednesday evening probably tastes all the more sweeter than had his team repeated their feat from last December.

Some fans may feel uneasy that, given the problems Villa caused, the Blues' problems from last year haven't exactly gone away. Exciting one week, vulnerable the next, Chelsea had a frustrating look to them under Rafa Benitez, although this fixture suggests things are changing.

Championships are won in matches like this. Under Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United perfected the art of grinding out results en route to glory, and it was a characteristic present in Mourinho's first spell as Chelsea manager.

Time and again last year the Blues threw away games from winning positions, failing to close matches out. From 2-0 up they drew 2-2 at home to Southampton in January and in the same month repeated that result against Reading—who would later be relegated—at the Madejski Stadium.

There were others, too, with Chelsea conceding points from winning positions against Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Newcastle United in the second half of 2012-13.

He's not even been back three months, yet it seems Mourinho has eradicated that problem already—Chelsea beating Villa the way they did is evidence enough.

They were organized and clinical when it mattered most, and above all else gave little away, especially valuable points.

"The great thing today is Villa gave us a different match and we coped; defensively we were strong," Mourinho commented to ChelseaFC.com at the final whistle.

They were the words of a happy manager—pleased that his team is moving in the right direction. And so he should be.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent and will be following the club from a London base throughout the 2013-14 season. Follow him on Twitter here @garryhayes