Chelsea retook third place in the Premier League table after brushing aside out-of-form Aston Villa 3-0 at Stamford Bridge.
Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer were all on target as the Blues made it three successive wins across all competitions inside a week, following on from their dominant victory at struggling Leicester and battling Conference League triumph over Heidenheim in Germany.
The result means Chelsea go back above Manchester City and Brighton before the former take on leaders Liverpool in a blockbuster fixture at Anfield later on Sunday, only six points off the summit as things stand and behind London rivals Arsenal now on alphabetical order only despite manager Enzo Maresca’s renewed insistence that his team are not title contenders.
For Villa, their run of consecutive matches without a win across all competitions now stretches to eight - their worst run of the Unai Emery era after back-to-back draws against Crystal Palace and at home to Juventus in the Champions League.
Maresca sprang a couple of selection surprises in west London, with Moises Caicedo operating as a makeshift right-back as Romeo Lavia returned in midfield alongside Fernandez and Jadon Sancho also getting the nod alongside the returning Pedro Neto.
They made a strong start to the game and went ahead inside just seven minutes, the resurgent Jackson firing his eighth goal of the season in off the post with a fine instinctive finish after Marc Cucurella had won the ball from Jaden Philogene - who came into the Villa team along with Ezri Konsa - and produced a low cross into the box.
Villa were adamant that Cucurella had fouled Philogene, but the goal was given by referee Stuart Attwell and stood after a check by VAR Michael Salisbury.
Ollie Watkins missed a superb chance to equalise as he was denied one-on-one by Robert Sanchez, with Chelsea making the most of their reprieve as they piled on pressure throughout the remainder of the opening period, save for another Watkins effort that was easily held by Sanchez at his near post.
Emi Martinez and Boubacar Kamara made heroic blocks after a backpass by Pau Torres led to a rare indirect free-kick that Fernandez touched for Palmer to hammer towards goal from close range.
Martinez also got away with accidentally passing the ball straight out to Jackson in an eventful first half for the Argentine goalkeeper, who hurt himself while atoning for his error with a brave, scrambling stop and had to be replaced at the break by deputy Robin Olsen.
Chelsea’s second goal came from Fernandez less than 10 minutes before the interval, combining wonderfully with Palmer before rifling a bouncing ball into the bottom corner with the outside of his boot - two in two now for the Blues’ stand-in captain, who was also instrumental in last week’s win at Leicester as he bids to bounce back from a difficult start to the campaign.
The second half proved a mostly tame affair with only half-chances at both ends as Chelsea lost Wesley Fofana to a hamstring injury before the hour mark after he trod on the ball and fell awkwardly following a tussle with Watkins.
The only moment of real quality after half-time came from Palmer, who received a pass from substitute Noni Madueke and casually flicked the ball to his left before bending an unstoppable shot into the top corner with Olsen rooted to the spot.
More to follow
