Villa are now unbeaten at home in 14 league games, having held leaders Liverpool here in midweek, and even with victory remain a point behind Chelsea with a game fewer left to play.
Fernandez’s effort had been Chelsea’s reward for a bright start, sparked by Enzo Maresca’s surprise decisions to move Reece James into midfield and Pedro Neto up-front.
New signings Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford combined twice to lead a superb second-half fightback, the Spaniard’s first two goals for Villa earning a 2-1 victory, after Enzo Fernandez had opened the scoring early on.
He had played in there with success as a youngster on loan at Wigan but that is a long time ago now; his last central-midfield start for Chelsea had been away to Zenit St. Petersburg, in December 2021.
Some of James’s passing, though, was wonderfully crisp and his repurposing brought the kind of security Chelsea’s midfield has so badly lacked on the road.
