Chelsea Strengthen Top Four Bid with Joao Pedro Hat Trick Thumping Villa

Joao Pedro scored a hat trick as Chelsea hammered Aston Villa 4 1 on Wednesday boosting their chances of Champions League qualification.

The Brazilians first Premier League treble propelled Liam Roseniors team above Liverpool into fifth position only three points adrift of fourth placed Villa.

With support from Cole Palmers goal Joao Pedros standout display helped Chelsea bounce back from Douglas Luizs early strike at Villa Park.

This marked the most polished showing under Rosenior in his two months at the helm wiping away the frustration from their recent three match winless streak in the league.

Villa started brightly when Luiz netted within three minutes raising hopes of advancing their own Champions League aspirations but the evening quickly unravelled for them.

Unai Emerys squad has managed just one victory in their past six outings leaving them at serious risk of dropping out of the race for Europes premier club tournament.

Rosenior benched goalkeeper Robert Sanchez following his subpar display in Sundays 2 1 defeat to Arsenal opting instead for Filip Jorgensen.

However the Danish keeper was retrieving the ball from his net after only 150 seconds as Villa surged ahead early.

Leon Bailey shone on the right flank and his pull back was cleverly dummied by Ollie Watkins enabling Luiz to deflect in his first goal since rejoining Villa.

Chelsea hit back strongly with Villa relying on Emiliano Martinezs acrobatic stop to deny Joao Pedros header while Palmer tested the Argentine again with a long range effort.

Jorgensen made a solid save to thwart Morgan Rogers shot in the 34th minute and this proved crucial as the momentum shifted just 44 seconds later.

Enzo Fernandez threaded a pass to Malo Gusto who timed his run perfectly and squared for Joao Pedro to poke home from near the line drawing level.

Joao Pedro struck again in the sixth minute of added time in the first half.

The ex Brighton forward latched onto another Fernandez assist and his clever chip nestled into the bottom corner.

Chelsea netted their third ten minutes into the second half when Martinez spilled Reece Jamess cross right to Palmer who drilled a fierce low shot through the melee.

Villa were being carved open and Joao Pedro sealed his hat trick in the 64th minute.

Alejandro Garnacho surged along the left and set up the Brazilian who tapped in effortlessly from close proximity.