Chelsea kept the pressure up on Liverpool and Manchester City with an impressive 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday.
With the two title rivals facing off later in the day, Chelsea knew three points would be significant and they clearly came out with that message fresh in their minds. Nicolas Jackson opened the scoring inside seven minutes, before Enzo Fernandez added a delightful second before the break.
Cole Palmer nabbed an excellent third late on from outside the penalty area to cap off a perfect result for Chelsea.
The result sees Enzo Maresca's side climb up to third in the standings but with the exact same tally of goals scored and conceded as second-placed Arsenal. City can reclaim that spot with a positive result against Liverpool later on.
For Villa, it's an eighth consecutive game without a victory which leaves them down in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernández
Jackson was a threat throughout / Robin Jones/GettyImages
*Ratings provided by FotMob*
Player Rating
GK: Robert Sanchez 7.2/10
RB: Moises Caicedo 7.8/10
CB: Wesley Fofana 7.2/10
CB: Levi Colwill 7.3/10
LB: Marc Cucurella 7.7/10
DM: Romeo Lavia 6.7/10
DM: Enzo Fernandez 8.1/10
RM: Pedro Neto 6.8/10
AM: Cole Palmer 8.8/10
LM: Jadon Sancho 6.3/10
ST: Nicolas Jackson 7.4/10
SUB: Benoit Badiashile (59' for Fofana) 6.4/10
SUB: Christopher Nkunku (70' for Jackson) 6.3/10
SUB: Noni Madueke (70' for Sancho) 6.8/10
SUB: Malo Gusto (86' for Lavia) N/A
SUB: Joao Felix (86' for Palmer) N/A
Subs not used: Filip Jorgensen (GK), Tosin Adarabioyo, Renato Veiga, Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk
Emiliano MartÃnez
Martinez went off injured / Robin Jones/GettyImages
*Ratings provided by FotMob*
Player Rating
GK: Emiliano Martinez 5.4/10
RB: Matty Cash 5.7/10
CB: Ezri Konsa 6.0/10
CB: Pau Torres 5.9/10
LB: Lucas Digne 5.6/10
RM: John McGinn 6.1/10
CM: Boubacar Kamara 5.9/10
CM: Youri Tielemans 6.0/10
LM: Jadon Philogene 6.7/10
AM: Morgan Rogers 5.8/10
ST: Ollie Watkins 6.4/10
SUB: Robin Olsen (46' for Martinez) 6.5/10
SUB: Ross Barkley (62' for Kamara) 6.1/10
SUB: Jhon Duran (66' for Rogers) 6.1/10
SUB: Leon Bailey (66' for Philogene) 5.8/10
SUB: Emiliano Buendia (84' for Watkins) N/A
Subs not used: Diego Carlos, Ian Maatsen, Lamare Bogarde, Tyrone Mings
Player of the match - Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
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