3 things we learned from Chelsea's 3-0 win over Aston Villa

The Blues wore down a tenacious Aston Villa side for a deserved victory at Stamford Bridge ... and yes, Diego Costa scored again to continue his torrid start to the season as the Blues dispatched Aston Villa 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. Oscar combined with Willian early in the first half to put the Blues ahead and despite a solid defensive performance by Villa, their offense couldn't generate a real threat as Chelsea pulled away late for the win.


3 things we learned from the match:

1. Chelsea clearly learned from their flaws last season - The thing that cost the Blues a shot at the league title last season was an inability to wear down compact defences and score late goals to either win games, or put them away. So far this season we've seen the Blues generally doing the exact opposite. The arrival of Diego Costa certainly hasn't hurt, but you can tell that the coaches and players learned from last year's mistakes and are determined to not repeat them.

2. Aston Villa's 3-0 loss to Arsenal was a bit of a fluke - Villa are not going to win the title, they're not getting a Champions League spot and chances are, they're not finishing in the Europa League places either. That said, this Aston Villa team is far better than many expected. Whether or not they can hold up over the next eight months remains to be seen, but there's no doubt that the team we saw lose 3-0 against Arsenal was not the real Villa.

Don't let the score line fool you, Villa played well and were simply overwhelmed by a better team. The overall performance despite the three goals conceded, combined with their impressive win over Liverpool at Anfield, proves that Lambert's side is not relegation fodder, as long as they can stay reasonably healthy.

3. Diego Costa is not fair - There's always talk when a striker moves to the Premier League for the first about whether or not they'll be able to handle the physical play in the league. If you hadn't consistently watched Diego Costa last season with Atlético Madrid, it would've been normal for you to ask that question about him. Costa fans and observes knew better, they'd been seeing his tenacious, physical play for awhile. He's a goal scoring monster, he's eating Premier League defences alive with no concern for their feelings. It's scary and it's just not fair. Damn you Mourinho. Damn you.