Chelsea 0-2 Aston Villa

A perfect away day display on Saturday evening earned Aston Villa a first win at Stamford Bridge since 2011.

Ollie Watkins became the first Villan to score in five consecutive away Premier League games when he lobbed home the opener on 18 minutes.

Captain John McGinn doubled his team’s advantage on the hour mark with a sublime first-time strike from distance, notching his first goal of the season in style.

And a superb performance was topped off by a clean sheet for Emi Martínez to see him break the record for most shutouts by a Villa goalkeeper in their first 100 games for the club (34).

The visitors started the game knowing a win would take them into the top ten for the first time since August, but they encountered a Chelsea side buoyed by a recent upturn in form.

And the hosts were given early encouragement when the returning Boubacar Kamara was dispossessed inside his own penalty area, resulting in Mykhailo Mudryk seeing a shot deflected over by Martínez.

Villa played their part in a fast-paced start to the game and spurned a glorious chance to go ahead when Watkins dragged his effort wide after being put clean through by McGinn.

The Scot, who had been in fine form for his country during the international break, struck the crossbar with a first-time shot from the edge of the box as the away side continued to push forward.

And a minute later they were in front when a long ball from Douglas Luiz drew an errant header by Marc Cucurella, with Watkins keeping his cool to lob Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Chelsea upped the ante in a bid to level the scores but the finishing touch deserted Mudryk when he went through on goal, tamely passing to Martínez, while Ben Chilwell’s strike clattered against the post.

The home side did have the ball in the net before the half-time whistle sounded, but Chilwell’s header was ruled out after the full-back impeded Ashley Young in the process of scoring.

Unai Emery opted to take off Kamara, who had picked up an early booking, and replace him with Calum Chambers for the start of the second half, switching to a back five in the process.

A spell of pressure from the Blues was weathered before the travelling fans were given a second goal to celebrate by their captain.

Jacob Ramsey collected a loose ball following a Villa corner, setting the ball back to McGinn, who ran onto it and swept a shot beyond Arrizabalaga’s dive and into the bottom corner.

An increasingly agitated Stamford Bridge despaired once more when substitute N’Golo Kante pulled an effort wide with the goal at his mercy.

Villa sank deeper as Chelsea probed from side-to-side, but they came close to putting the result beyond doubt when Leon Bailey’s drilled effort flew just wide of the post.  

At the other end, Martínez had little of note to deal with late on as he secured a place in the history books, overtaking Brad Friedel and Mark Bosnich's record.