Chelsea 2-0 Aston Villa

Manager Luiz Felipe Scolari gave a home debut to Serbian international defender Branislav Ivanovic, who looked very impressive, not putting a foot wrong all afternoon.

An improving Villa, after a great start to the season, have aspirations of breaking into the top four, but the Londoners gave Martin O'Neill's men a lesson and a reality check on just how big the gulf is between the top four and the rest.

The Blues were brilliant on the ball from the beginning, peppering the Villa goal from the outset.

England pair Joe Cole and Frank Lampard threatened early on before Cole opened the scoring on 21 minutes.

A slick passing move down the left between Florent Malouda and Lampard found Cole in space to rifle the ball home into the top right-hand corner of the net.

Michael Ballack forced some outstanding reaction saves from Brad Friedel as he continued to test the keeper from long range.

A minute from half-time, Friedel denied Ballack again, but this time Nicolas Anelka latched onto the rebound from close range, though he needed two bites of the cherry to beat the in-form keeper.

O'Neill made two substitutions at the break, introducing James Milner and Carlos Cuellar to change shape and add some width to his side, while Scolari brought on Franco di Santo for Anelka.

Chelsea continued to dominate in the second period as Villa looked to weather the storm and attack on the counter.

Friedel continued to deny Ballack and Chelsea, but more worrying for Chelsea and England was the sight of Cole limping off with an ankle injury to be replaced by Salomon Kalou.

O'Neill brought on Marlon Harewood with 20 minutes remaining to replace the ineffectual John Carew.

Inside the last 10 minutes, Scolari brought on defender Juliano Belletti to safeguard the victory.

A jubilant Scolari was optimistic about his injury list and welcomed a 15-day period for recovery, while the magnanimous O'Neill conceded that, although he thought Villa had played well, "Chelsea were brilliant."