Chelsea overtake Liverpool after beating Aston Villa

Alexandre Pato, who signed from Corinthians in January, came off the bench to replace Loic Remy in the 23rd minute and had a hand in the first goal for Ruben Loftus-Cheek just three minutes later.

There were further chances for Villa to level matters, but the game drifted out of their reach in first-half injury time when Aly Cissokho wrestled Pato to the ground in the area and the Brazilian lashed his penalty beyond Guzan.

Aston Villa played like they have resigned themselves to relegation, which is all but assured, and Chelsea featured many reserves who and several debuts who played like they were hungry to prove themselves.

Others, however, remained and instead used the occasion to throw another protest the way of owner Randy Lerner and his board, with several thousand supporters holding aloft pieces of paper which said: “Proud history, what future”.

Alan Hutton’s late red card compounded Villa’s afternoon, although he was applauded by some home fans as he made his way to the tunnel – presumably for showing some heart and fight.

Pato looked to be an ideal solution for Chelsea’s goal-shy problems when he arrived at Stamford Bridge, and many fans were left scratching their heads as to why he wasn’t getting any game time. It was poor goalkeeping, but again – it comes as no surprise given it’s this season’s shambolic representation of Aston Villa.

He fired home past the diving Brad Guzan to end the half, and within a minute of the restart the visitors grabbed their third.

Azpilicueta was good, but fellow Spaniard Pedro was superb. He beat two Villa players with a brilliant piece of skill in central midfield before spreading the ball wide for the cross that led to the goal.

Asked if Villa could win them over, Black said: “It’s got to happen, and it will. How quickly, I don’t know”.

Black added: “It wasn’t easy”.

“We had one or two opportunities but not enough to cause them any real concern”.

“The players are disappointed and what we must do is try to get the supporters back on side”.