Aston Villa have summit in sight after Watkins double seals victory at Chelsea

The goal was deserved for Chelsea and the home side will only have been disappointed that they were not much further ahead at the end of a first-half in which Villa did not register a single proper shot on goal.

Cole Palmer could have volleyed the home side ahead in the second minute, but missed the target from inside the penalty area, while Fernández also curled the ball wide following good work from Palmer and Alejandro Garnacho.

Garnacho and Cucurella were a threat down the left for Chelsea and Cucurella succeeded in not only winding most of the Villa team up, but also manager Unai Emery.

Cucurella fell theatrically to the floor after being shoved by Morgan Rogers and Emery appeared to let him know what he thought of the incident. Cucurella was happy enough to bite back and the pair exchanged words more than once as Chelsea’s left-back patrolled the touchline.

Matty Cash, the Villa right-back, was booked for a slightly wild challenge on Garnacho that means he will miss next Tuesday’s trip to Arsenal through suspension. Boubacar Kamara will also miss that game after he collected a fifth booking of the season in the second half.

Emery had started with Donyell Malen as his loan striker in place of Ollie Watkins, who was left on the bench, but the decision did not pay off in the opening 45 minutes. Malen constantly lost out to Benoît Badiashile when the ball was pumped forward and struggled to make an impact.

It was a slight surprise that Emery did not opt to make a substitution at the break as Malen started the second half and Chelsea immediately wanted a penalty. Garnacho swung in a cross that appeared to strike the arm of Ian Maatsen. Vitiello shouted ‘handball’ from his seat next to Maresca, but referee Stuart Attwell pointed for a corner and there was no VAR intervention.

Rogers finally registered a proper shot on goal for Villa in the 51st minute, when his strike was deflected wide from a corner. But Chelsea dealt with the set-piece comfortably and should have scored themselves.

Palmer combined brilliantly with Pedro. His low cross looked for all the world that it would be tapped in by Garnacho, but McGinn arrived from nowhere to save his team.

McGinn was one of the players sacrificed by Emery when he finally made changes in the 58th minute and five minutes later Villa were level.

There had already been a warning, when Watkins had slipped the ball through for Kamara and Robert Sánchez had rushed from his line to make a good save. But Badiashile quickly gifted the visitors another chance and this time they took it.

Badiashile’s poor clearance was easily cut out and the ball was played to Rogers, who was given far too much time and space. He played in Watkins and the striker saw the ball rebound off Sánchez, back off him and into the net.