A dinked Moisés Caicedo pass and masterful Cole Palmer touch opened up the game’s first chance for the latter just two minutes into proceedings, but he fired wide.
While Morgan Rogers made the occasional break going the other way, Benoit Badiashile tackled him in the box, and the hosts remained in control of the play.
The Blues were quicker to almost every ball, and one interception started a move that culminated in Alejandro Garnacho cutting the ball back for an attempt that Enzo Fernández guided wide.
Caicedo and Palmer then saw a shot apiece blocked by Youri Tielemans, while Emiliano Martínez remained alert as he spread himself to stop João Pedro’s flick when eventually called upon in the 24th minute.
Despite the score staying level, there was disappointment for the visitors as Matty Cash’s challenge on Garnacho earned the right-back a yellow card, which means he misses the match against Arsenal.
After Reece James had sent a strike bouncing wide, he delivered the corner that Pedro got the finest of touches on to finally break the deadlock in the 37th minute. Palmer then had a strike saved, and John McGinn’s tame free-kick at the other end was dealt with before the break.
It was far more of a contest after the restart, with Rogers and Emiliano Buendía being denied either side of James’ effort, forcing a brilliant save from Martínez.
Garnacho then curled a shot wide before Emery took action with a triple change as the hour mark approached, and Ollie Watkins soon slid the ball through for Boubacar Kamara, but Robert Sanchez rushed out to stop the Frenchman.
There was no denying Watkins, though, as his shot bounced off the goalkeeper and back onto him before going in.
Sánchez was soon back in action to save a venomous Ian Maatsen shot before Chelsea responded with a triple change of their own.
Watkins still continued to cause problems and, even though there was the blow of losing Kamara against Arsenal due to a yellow card, Watkins popped up again to guide an 84th-minute header inside the post to earn Aston Villa’s 11th consecutive victory to keep them within three points of the PL leaders.
Chelsea’s first defeat in four matches across all competitions leaves them fifth for now.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)
