Why Chelsea Were Awarded a Free Kick Inside Aston Villa’s Penalty Box

• Chelsea were awarded an indirect free-kick inside Aston Villa's penalty area in the first half of their Premier League game
• Emi Martinez handled the ball after a back pass from his teammate Pau Torres following an initial save from a stinging Cole Palmer shot
• Legit.ng looks at the rule used to award a free-kick despite most fouls inside the box being given as a penalty

A rare occurrence happened in Chelsea's Premier League game vs Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon.

Villa travelled to Stamford Bridge on the back of a seven-match winless streak to face a Chelsea side that have forced their way into the title conversation under Enzo Maresca.

Nicolas Jackson opened the scoring in the seventh minute after some beautiful work by Marc Cucurella down the left flank. The left-back squared the ball to Jackson, who beat Emi Martinez at the near post to score his eighth goal of the season.

Why Chelsea were given indirect free-kick vs Villa

Chelsea had an opportunity to double their head when Cole Palmer robbed Youri Tielemans of the ball. His shot was saved by Martinez, with the Argentine goalkeeper touching the ball with his hands after Pau Torres cushioned the ball back.

Referee Stuart Atwell gave an indirect free-kick inside Villa's penalty area. Section 12 of Football Laws state that:

"An indirect free kick is awarded if a goalkeeper, inside their penalty area, commits the following offences: it (the ball) has been deliberately kicked to the goalkeeper by a team-mate."

Referee Atwell adjudged that Torress deliberately passed the ball back to Martinez thus the free-kick. Chelsea did not make the most of the attempt, with Martinez blocking Palmer's shot.

However, Enzo Fernandez scored the hosts' second of the afternoon, giving Maresca's side a healthy advantage heading into the break.

Palmer added a third one with a beautiful curler to send Chelsea into the top three behind Arsenal.

Two Manchester United players suspended for Arsenal game

Legit.ng reported that Manchester United will be without two players for their upcoming trip to face Arsenal on Wednesday.

Manager Ruben Amorim celebrated his maiden Premier League victory with an impressive 4-0 triumph over Everton but now faces a setback as two key players are sidelined due to suspension.