*Villa treble downs Blues*

Aston Villa claimed a well-deserved victory at Stamford Bridge, with an impressive display against Chelsea.

Goals from Peter Crouch, Darius Vassell and Dion Dublin secured the points for the visitors, despite a second-half penalty from Eidur Gudjohnsen.

The victory not only brought Villa’s run of seven consecutive away defeats to an end, but pushed the Midlanders up to eighth in the Premiership.

After 12 wins in the past 19 games games, the match represented a disappointing end to the season for Chelsea, who slipped to sixth in the table.

The home side could have taken the lead as early as the fourth minute after some delightful trickery from Gianfranco Zola.

The Italian beat two defenders with nimble footwork before laying off the ball to Jesper Gronkjaer, whose cross-shot slid inches wide of goalkeeper Peter Enckelman’s far post.

If that was close then in the 10th minute goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini demonstrated why he has been Chelsea’s most consistent performer this season.

A superbly balanced run from Vassell opened up the Chelsea defence and when the cross came over, 6ft 7in Crouch’s header was finger-tipped away by the flying Italian.

Cudicini’s efforts drew huge applause from the home crowd, but minutes later there was little he could do when Crouch met an inswinging Steve Stone corner to give Villa a timely lead.

In the 26th minute, Cole should have levelled for Chelsea, but the precocious teenager showed why he will probably miss as many as he scores.

He stole into a superb central position, totally unmarked, but when the cross came over he snatched at the chance and his free header skimmed harmlessly wide.

The miss certainly summed up Chelsea’s season - lots of promise but too often disappointment in the delivery.

In a search for extra penetration Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri made a three-way substitution at half-time, bringing on Eidur Gudjohnsen for Gronkjaer, Sam Dalla Bona for Boudewijn Zenden and 17-year-old Robert Huth to make his debut in place of Graeme le Saux.

Again it was Villa who found the net first, however, when Vassell volleyed in to double their lead - no doubt to the delight of England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Gudjohnsen halved the deficit for Chelsea from the spot, when Mark Delaney brought down Dalla Bona.

Against the run of play, Villa should have extended their lead when full-back Mark Delaney found himself clear on goal and in acres of space.

But on the stroke of time Villa grabbed a deserved third when Dublin knocked the ball into the net, after Alan Wright’s impressive shot had rebounded off the crossbar.