Chelsea 3-0 Aston Villa: Jackson, Fernandez & Palmer strike as Fofana dealt injury blow | OneFootball

Chelsea continued their good form heading into the festive period with a convincing 3-0 victory over Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.

First half goals from Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez saw Enzo Maresca's side in the lead going into the break before Cole Palmer added a third towards the end of the match.

Unai Emery's side never truly threatened to score as the Blues were in control throughout and kept up with London rivals Arsenal, who beat West Ham on Saturday.

Despite the positive performance, there was cause for concern for Maresca as defender Wesley Fofana was unable to complete the match.

Fofana has struggled with injuries throughout his career but was hoping that he put these concerns behind him after a fine start to life under the Italian at Chelsea.

It remains to be seen as to the extent of his injury as Chelsea head into the busiest period of the season but nonetheless, Maresca will be proud of his side's performance in their 3-0 win.

Nicolas Jackson opened the scoring for Chelsea, converting from close range. / IMAGO / Pro Sports Images

The Blues got off to a positive start and were rewarded for their early pressure in the seventh minute, with Marc Cucurella's deflected cross finding Jackson.

Jackson continued his fine goalscoring form, swinging a left foot at Cucurella's delivery from close range to beat Emiliano Martinez in the Aston Villa goal.

With the score at 1-0, a bizarre moment happened as Martinez saved a Palmer shot before defender Pau Torres touched the ball and then stepped away to leave it for his goalkeeper.

Chelsea players protested before the referee handed the Blues an indirect free-kick from seven yards out, which Fernandez laid off to Palmer. Unfortunately, the England and Chelsea star could not convert from close range and Martinez pulled off a terrific save to keep Villa in the game.

While Ollie Watkins had a couple of chances after this, Robert Sanchez made saves of his own as he did well to deny the England international from both efforts before the Blues doubled their lead.

Palmer did brilliantly to pick out Fernandez on the edge of the Aston Villa box and the Argentine made it two goals in his last two Premier League matches as he poked home a smart volley to beat his national team-mate in the Villa goal.

Chelsea captain Enzo Fernandez made it 2-0 before half-time. / IMAGO / Sportimage

While the first half was end-to-end on occasion, Chelsea did well to dampen Aston Villa's spirits with Moises Caicedo inverting into midfield from right-back to provide defensive stability in the Blues midfield.

Heading into the second half, things went from bad to worse for the visitors as goalkeeper Martinez was replaced by Robin Olsen and Chelsea were in control of the match, with Jackson having a couple of chances to add to his tally but being unable to convert.

The visitor's best chance of the half came through Jhon Duran, who has previously been linked with a move to Chelsea as the forward was found by a Villa cross and headed towards goal but Levi Colwill did well to get back in front of Sanchez and clear off the line with a header.

With five minutes remaining, Palmer got on the scoresheet as substitute Noni Madueke found his team-mate, who took the ball on his left foot outside the box and hit an incredible strike past Olsen to make it 3-0.

It was not all good news for Chelsea, however, with Fofana replaced by Benoit Badiashile midway through the second half as the Frenchman appeared to suffer an injury. Maresca will be hoping that he won't be without Fofana for a lengthy period, having already lost Reece James to a hamstring injury in recent weeks.

The victory sees Chelsea maintain their good start to the season as they sit third in the Premier League, level on points with Arsenal. On the other hand, the defeat means that Aston Villa are winless in their last eight matches.