Aston Villa 2-1 Chelsea: Marco Asensio at the double as Villa come from behind to secure huge win in race for Champions League qualification | OneFootball

In a clash between two major contenders for a Champions League spot, Aston Villa got the better of Chelsea courtesy of a 2-1 triumph at Villa Park on Saturday.

The home side headed into the contest off the back of a 2-2 stalemate against Premier League leaders Liverpool, while Chelsea were beaten for the second time in six days by Brighton & Hove Albion.

Chelsea began the game on the front foot but were dealt an early blow after just eight minutes as Trevoh Chalobah had to come off with an injury.

However, the Blues took the lead barely 60 seconds later as Enzo Fernandez tapped home from close range courtesy of a delightful cutback from Pedro Neto.

Chelsea continued to assert their dominance as Villa struggled to cope with their visitors, and understandably so, given their midweek exertions against Liverpool.

Having been second-best for large spells of the opening exchanges, Villa had their first sight of goal in the 18th minute via a counter-attack, which saw Ollie Watkins call Filip Jorgensen into action.

Watkins was presented with another decent opportunity just over a minute later, having been found by Ian Maatsen, but the forward saw his effort blocked by Marc Cucurella.

Aiming to continue his decent record in front of goal against Villa, Fernandez sent a curling effort just over Emiliano Martinez’s goal as he looked to beat his compatriot for the second time in less than 20 minutes.

Off the back of two unsuccessful cracks at the Chelsea goal, Watkins was on the end of a teasing cross into the box but failed to get the better of Jorgensen once again.

Chelsea could easily have doubled their advantage when Cole Palmer’s deflected effort off Tyrone Mings narrowly missed Martinez’s near post.

Still working his way back to full match sharpness following his return from injury, Reece James was careless in possession a couple of times, one of which resulted in a fourth attempt of the half from Watkins.

Martinez needed to be at his best eight minutes shy of the interval to thwart Christopher Nkunku.

Just before half-time, James latched on to a rebound from a corner on the edge of the box, although he could only drag his effort wide.

Despite a first-half stoppage time of six minutes, neither team managed to muster any significant attacking threat to end the half.

Villa manager Unai Emery sent on Marcus Rashford at half-time, and he needed just 12 minutes to make an impact, setting up Marco Asensio’s leveller.

After getting themselves back on track, the home side started to seize control of proceedings and looked the likelier to steal all three points.

However, Chelsea had the next two attempts through Neto and Palmer, albeit with no significant ramifications.

Palmer had Chelsea’s best chance of the second period 15 minutes from time, racing on to a lovely through ball from Moises Caiced but his effort was blocked by Ezri Konsa.

With the game becoming increasingly stretched, both teams retained significant threat on the counter with Donyell Malen coming closest to grabbing a winner, only to be denied by Jorgensen.

Villa took a deserved lead on the balance of play as Rashford and Asensio combined again for the latter’s second of the day, which Jorgensen should have kept out.

Leon Bailey almost put the result beyond doubt in second-half stoppage time, but that would prove to be inconsequential as Villa held on for all three points to snap a five-game winless league run.

Emery’s side are now seventh in the Premier League table, just two points shy of Manchester City in fourth.