Aston Villa entered the race for Europe as goals from Ollie Watkins and John McGinn saw them win 2-0 at Chelsea – in a result which saw Graham Potter receive chants of “you don’t know what your doing” from his own team’s fans.
Villa went in front when Watkins took advantage of Marc Cucurella’s poor defending to lob Kepa Arrizabalaga (18) – but the visitors were indebted to goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who pulled off a string of superb saves to keep his side ahead.
The Argentine World Cup winner made two smart one-on-one stops to deny Mykhailo Mudryk, as well as Kai Havertz on several occasions.
Chelsea saw a Ben Chilwell header ruled out for a push by the full-back on Ashley Young before half-time – and the Blues received a sucker punch after the interval as McGinn’s long-range stunner from distance found the bottom corner.
The result moves Chelsea down to 11th in the table – 11 points off fourth and nine behind fifth-placed Newcastle having played two games more.
Villa, meanwhile, climb to ninth with defeats for Liverpool and Fulham earlier on Saturday, as well as Brighton and Brentford’s draw, meaning Unai Emery’s side are now just two points off sixth.
Sky Sports