It was far from a poor performance from Chelsea against Aston Villa, but it definitely left much to be desired.

They had ample chances to ensure they had a bigger cushion before the hosts found a way back through Marco Asensio’s first goal and should really have got themselves back in front.

Cole Palmer – who remains far from at his best – took too long when one-on-one and did not take advantage of Emiliano Martinez slipping twice, while he also curled a great opportunity wide.

Pedro Neto’s work was the main standout positive to come from the game, with him causing continual trouble for Ian Maatsen in the Aston Villa back line.

But his efforts up top mattered for little when it was undone by shakiness at the back, perhaps influenced by Trevoh Chalobah having to be brought off early in the game with a back issue.

They left too much space for Villa to exploit between the midfield and defence and there were other pockets in the box, too.

It took a while for Villa to get going, but after introducing Marcus Rashford they were always in the ascendency; Chelsea could not deal with the shift in momentum.

This was a winnable fixture for Chelsea and three points dropped in a frustrating fashion.