PATO HELP CHELSEA TO SINK VILLA

Aston Villa 0 - Chelsea 4: Pedro and Pato shine as relegation looms for Eric Black's men

The Blues opened the scoring through Loftus Cheek on 26 minutes and were two up just before the break courtesy of an Alexandre Pato penalty.

Pedro then turned on the magic in the second half scoring soon after the restart and then again on 59 minutes to double the lead to 4-0.

The home fans must have sensed they would be in for one of those afternoons when Chelsea's first went in.

A ball played into the 18-yard box was met unconvincingly by Loftus-Cheek only to rebound off the hapless Joleon Lescott and into the Villa net.

And things would get worse for Eric Black's men just before half time as Aly Cissokho brought Pato down in the box, and the Brazilian gratefully stepped up to fire in his debut goal for the club.

 

At half time, Black's message to the Villa boys must have been to keep it tight, but it seems no-one in a Claret and Blue shirt was listening.

Just seconds after the whistle for the restart Brad Guzan found himself picking the ball out of his own net for the third time after some quality build up for the Blues.

Chelsea broke down the left flank and after some deft one-touch passes, picked out Pedro in the six-yard box who fired past Guzan.

And just 13 minutes later the fourth went in, Guzan parrying a fairly specualtive shot from Pato into the path of the on-rushing Pedro who finished well from a tight angle.

But it was to get worse for the Villa faithful, as Alan Hutton was shown a second yellow card for a challenge on Pedro and was given his marching orders on 85 minutes.

The boos rang out around Villa Park as the final whistle approached, and the defeat means Villa could be tasting Championship football as early as next week if other results don't go in their favour.

MATCH FACTS, PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE FROM THE MATCH AT VILLA PARK

Aston Villa (4-3-3): Guzan 4; Hutton 4, Richards 5, Lescott 5, Cissokho 4; Gana 5.5 (Lyden 83’), Sanchez 5.5 (Bacuna 66), Westwood 6; Gil 4 (Grealish 66’ 6), Gestede 5, Ayew 6.5

Subs not used: Bunn, Okore, Sinclair, Veretout 

Booked: Gana, Sanchez, Westwood

Sent off: Hutton 

Manager: Eric Black 5 

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois 6; Azpilicueta 6.5, Miazga 6.5, Ivanovic 6.5, Rahman 7; Mikel 7, Fabregas 7; Pedro 7.5 (Clarke-Salter 74’ 6), Loftus-Cheek 7.5, Kenedy 6.5 (Oscar 46’ 7); Remy 5 (Pato 23’ 8)

Subs not used: Begovic, Falcao, Traore, Matic

Scorers: Loftus-Cheek 26, Pato 45+3, Pedro 46, 59 

Booked: Fabregas

Manager: Guus Hiddink 8 

Ref: Neil Swarbrick

Att: 31,120