Aston Villa 2-1 Chelsea

Marco Asensio scored his first goals in claret and blue, including a dramatic late winner, as Aston Villa fought back to beat Chelsea in the Premier League.

The Spanish international was the toast of Villa Park after seeing his 89^th-minute shot creep under goalkeeper Filip Jørgensen to snatch victory in the final moments of a pulsating clash.

Both of Asensio’s strikes were assisted by Marcus Rashford, who had earlier teed the playmaker up to make it 1-1 just before the hour mark.

The last-gasp winning goal completed a tremendous comeback from Unai Emery’s team, having trailed to Enzo Fernández’s ninth-minute opener.

Victory extended the team’s unbeaten run on home turf to 14 matches, moving them up to seventh in the top flight standings.

Emery wasted no time in bringing the fit again Ezri Konsa back into the starting XI after a two-game absence while the manager also made a further three changes, Matty Cash, Ian Maatsen and Jacob Ramsey, to his team to face the Blues.  

However, the revamped backline was breached nine minutes in when Pedro Neto accelerated past Maatsen and drove the ball across for Fernández to tap past his countryman Emi Martínez.

Villa were seeing plenty of the ball but were unable to progress into the final third until a lightning-fast counter-attack, led by Asensio, ended with Ollie Watkins seeing his shot from a tight angle kicked clear by Jørgensen.

The Chelsea goalkeeper was on hand to save his side again just before the half hour mark when Watkins got his studs to Youri Tielemans’ drilled cross, again using his feet to keep the ball out.

The visitors immediately swept up the other end of the pitch and came close to doubling their advantage when Cole Palmer’s shot flicked off Tyrone Mings and bounced into the side netting.

An open game was unfolding as both sides moved forward with intent at every opportunity, and Watkins was the next player to fire at goal after intercepting a pass from Reece James, lashing his effort the wrong side of the post.

Martínez dove across goal to parry a Christopher Nkunku drive away in the closing stages of the half as Chelsea took a one-goal lead into the break.

Marcus Rashford was introduced for the start of the second half in place of Ramsey as Emery shuffled his attack, but it was again the away side that looked more threatening in the opening minutes.

Neto sent a shot across goal and wide of the far post before calling Martínez into action with a low drive shortly after.

Villa responded and levelled with their first attack of the second half – despite the linesman initially ruling it out for offside.

Cash delivered a cross to the back post for Rashford, who laid the ball across for Asensio to bundle home. A short VAR check overturned the on-field decision, sparking a roar of delight from all four sides of Villa Park.

The home side were in the ascendency, but they were served a reminder of Chelsea’s threat when Palmer placed an effort narrowly wide with 20 minutes left to play.

The Blues’ main threat came even closer soon after when he sprung the offside trap and beat Martínez with a shot, only being denied a goal by the covering Konsa.

Donyell Malen and Leon Bailey brought energy and poise to Villa’s attack from the bench, with the former going close to a winner when his close-range shot was saved by Jørgensen.

With time trickling away and a draw looking ever more likely, the hosts’ attacking quality proved decisive when they scored with one minute of the 90 remaining.

A short corner routine led to Rashford picking out Asensio with his ball into the box, and the Spaniard’s first-time shot crept under the body of Jørgensen.

Delirious scenes on the pitch and in the stands followed the goal and then the full-time whistle as Villa negotiated seven minutes of added time to secure a vital victory.