Cole Palmer’s party piece adds gloss as Chelsea compound Aston Villa’s worries

Bad news for fans of slapstick comedy: Chelsea appear to be serious again. Forget about underhit backpasses, farcical defending and foolish red cards if you happen to be turning up at Stamford Bridge any time soon. It is all about ruthless control these days and Chelsea, who are maturing nicely under Enzo Maresca, had it in spades during this dominant victory over Aston Villa.

Admittedly there were a few scares, not least when Ollie Watkins spurned an opportunity to cancel out Nicolas Jackson’s eighth goal of the season, but the essential takeaway was that the outcome was never in any genuine doubt. Chelsea’s young talents played with authority throughout and although Maresca was quick to curb talk of a title challenge, the Italian could delight in the way that his players overwhelmed Villa with ferocious pressing and vibrant attacking.

The only negative for Chelsea’s head coach was the defender Wesley Fofana going off with a hamstring injury. Otherwise, though, there was much to savour. Maresca loved Jackson’s hunger, he saw Moisés Caicedo thrive as a stand-in right-back and he praised Marc Cucurella, whose determined tackle on Jaden Philogene provided the spark when Chelsea went ahead in the seventh minute.

“We tried to play with personality,” said Unai Emery, still to reverse a slump that has seen Villa slide from top-four contenders to mid-table scrabblers. “We tried to stop them in the high press. But Chelsea showed they are different. They are stronger. They don’t have doubts like last year.”

Maresca maintained a sense of perspective, pointing out that his team must become more battle-hardened if they are to match Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City. Even so it was hard not to get carried away when Cole Palmer, who had earlier sent Enzo Fernández through to score his second goal in as many games, rounded off the scoring with the kind of routine brilliance that has become his calling card.

“If I go out and enjoy my football, the goals and assists will come,” Palmer said. “It’s all down to the manager, the desire that he puts into the sessions and what the players give to him.”

Although Villa have pulled off a couple of successful raids at Stamford Bridge in recent seasons, Chelsea were better equipped to deal with Emery’s tactics this time. There is snap to go with the style now. Spells of inexplicable drift are less frequent.

Villa, who have lost five of their past seven games in all competitions, were slow to read the room. They were startled by sudden bursts of aggression from Chelsea. Jackson did not give Villa’s goalkeeper, Emiliano Martínez, and the England defender Ezri Konsa a moment’s peace when they attempted to build from the back.

The tone was set and Chelsea, level on points with second-placed Arsenal, soon pounced. Pedro Neto saw a cross from the right headed away, but Philogene took a heavy touch and was never going to win a 50-50 with Cucurella.

Chelsea motored away when the ball broke to Jadon Sancho, who was bright on his first league start in over a month. The winger waited for Cucurella’s overlapping run and then played a pass to the left-back, whose deflected cross sat up for Jackson to score with a flick that went in off the near post.

Villa responded well at first. There was a moment of peril when Watkins went through after Fofana slipped. Yet the England striker has one goal in his past eight appearances and his weak shot did not extend Robert Sánchez.

Nothing ran for Villa. Chelsea squeezed them. Rattled, Villa made some weird decisions. Youri Tielemans almost paid for losing possession to Palmer. Martínez saved the attacker’s shot but then picked the ball up when Pau Torres tapped it back to him. Stuart Attwell almost seemed embarrassed by having to give Chelsea an indirect free-kick.

Martínez denied the subsequent effort from Palmer but the silliness continued when he passed straight to Jackson. The striker seemed surprised and could not capitalise.

With Roméo Lavia and Fernández controlling midfield, though, a second goal was a matter of time. So it proved when Palmer opened up Villa with a sharp pass. Nobody tracked Fernández and the midfielder jabbed a swerving shot past Martínez from the edge of the area.

Game over? Pretty much. Villa, who replaced the injured Martínez with Robin Olsen, had a couple of forays but they look a shadow of their former selves. Has the Champions League worn them out? “We are not a surprise like last year,” Emery said.

Nor are they as consistent as Chelsea. They pushed for a third, Jackson shooting over, and got it when Noni Madueke found Palmer after coming off the bench. Palmer had worked hard off the ball and here was his reward: a left-foot shot that arced beyond Olsen from 25 yards, hammering home Chelsea’s supremacy.